Disappearing Gem
by JustaFriend97
Summary: It's been a peaceful few months since Drago Bludfist's attack on Berk and Hiccup has been smoothly running his village. With Toothless at his side, he can easily overcome any obstacle or danger. However, a surprise from his late father and a neighboring tribe brings a new challenge for Hiccup. What new adventures await the Dragon Master and the Alpha. Hiccup/OC. Rating may change
1. Surprise in Disguise

**Chapter 1: Surprise in Disguise**

It's been an unusual season in cold desolate Berk. It wasn't cold or desolate. The skies perfectly showed a summery day where most of the Vikings of Berk shed their wintry attire. Children ran around the village while most of the adults went about their daily life. The dragons enjoyed this sunny season by laying either on a field of Dragon Nip or by the ocean. However, one particular dragon and his rider could not enjoy this wonderful day.

"Alright Toothless, let's do one last lap around the island," the young chief said as they glided over Berk and towards the forest. Toothless growled in confirmation and the Chief and Alpha began one last loop around their home.

Since becoming the chief and alpha of their tribe, Hiccup and Toothless gained more responsibilities than they wished. Long gone were the days when they could just disappear for more than three days without any worries or duties on Berk. The land was still covered in a few stray ice attacks but Berkians are quick to adapt and built new houses in their old village. After Drago's attack, Berk prospered greatly especially with the new dragons his mother introduced. New stables had to be built, extra fire prevention around the village and forest, and even more feeders with unlimited fish for the dragons. It really was Valhalla for both Vikings and dragons.

"Hey Dad," Hiccup greeted as he flew past the statue of his father that looked over their beloved village. Not a day passes by that Hiccup missed his father's overbearing presence and stubborn determination to protect his family. Now that torch has been passed down to the current chief excluding the overbearing presence but having a Night Fury and defeating Drago helped solidify his status as chief.

It's been a few months since Drago's attack and no danger has come to Berk. That doesn't count the occasional fires and wild dragons of course. Those were easily controlled and prevented. Of course, the new chief and alpha wouldn't be able to do it without the help of their friends. However, even they had their own new responsibilities.

"What do you say we relax for a bit, Toothless? We don't have to be back till before dinner with Mom," suggested Hiccup. The black dragon grunted and flew toward their usual hiding spot, the cove where their friendship blossomed. It was somewhat become a place where Hiccup and Toothless could relax away from Berk while still being close to Berk incase something were to happen.

As the pair got closer to the cove, a slight movement on the water caught their eyes. Hiccup leaned in slightly closer to his Night Fury while whispering, "What do you think that was, Bud?" The dragon lightly growled as if to say he didn't know either. It was either a dragon or a small animal. But Hiccup didn't notice any other movement around the cove. "I might just be seeing things." Hiccup realized he hadn't had any thrill-seeking adventures lately so it was probably his imagination playing with his mind again.

The young chief slid off Toothless's back as soon as his dragon landed in the middle of the cove. His stretched out his muscles while keeping his eyes on the forest around him. He just couldn't shake off the feeling of something watching him.

Suddenly, they heard a twig snap by the trees behind them. Toothless suddenly shot a plasma blast causing the line of trees to catch on fire. Before Hiccup realized what was happening, Toothless sprung into the roaring fires and tackled a Changewing to the ground. They were biting and scratching each other but Toothless still had the upper hand.

"Is that a Changewing?" He didn't recall any Changewings living on Berk. And why would this Changewing be by itself? Where was its pack?

That was when Hiccup was suddenly pushed onto the ground with a blade pressed onto his neck. He could feel a slight cut from where the blade was touching his skin. "Tell your dragon to calm down and stop attacking or else." The voice was slightly gruff but with a light melodic tone. The person had a hood that covered his face so Hiccup couldn't easily recognize him.

He had a sudden adrenaline rush and immediately pushed his attacker on his back while kicking the weapon away with his Inferno blazing right by his attacker's face. Hiccup was surprised to see doe-like eyes glaring right at him as his attacker's hood revealed dark brown hair spread behind her head. "You're a girl?" No wonder Hiccup easily rolled her off of him.

"Yeah. What of it?" she asked with venom laced in her voice. "And I would advice you to get off of me before I turn you into a girl myself."

Hiccup was confused at first until he felt another blade threateningly pressed into his crotch. The young man lightly gulped while slowly getting off the girl. With his weapon still blazing, he held it right in front of him as the girl grabbed her own weapon of choice, which was a long spear.

"Now tell your Night Fury to let Gem go," she demanded.

"Not until you tell me who you are and what you're doing hiding in my forest." Hiccup noticed that Toothless has pinned the Changewing to the ground while barring his teeth and waiting for Hiccup's signal to strike.

"Your forest?"

"Yes. My forest. I'm the Chief of Berk, Hiccup," he declared.

"The Dragon Master?"

Hiccup sighed at the title but confirmed it nonetheless. "Now the polite thing to do would be to say your name."

She lightly scoffed at the mention of his name but kept her unwavering gaze on him. "Dahlia."

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Hiccup as he signaled for Toothless to let go of the Changewing in order to gain a little bit of trust from the new rider. Once the Changewing was free, it flew right beside Dahlia with its wings spread and emanating a deep growl. Toothless was also in attack mode as Hiccup tried to calm him down. The female rider shifted closer to her dragon and lightly petted her head. "Now tell me why you're here."

"Wouldn't you like to know," scoffed the girl as she lightly petted the Changewing to calm her down.

Hiccup was already getting irritated by the minute. "I would. I don't want to have to force it out of you."

"What are you doing here anyway?" asked Dahlia as she walked over to the water.

"I asked you first."

"Well, I asked you second."

Hiccup sighed and put his Inferno away since he didn't feel any threat from this girl. "I needed to be alone for a while."

"Chief life ain't what you thought it would be?" Hiccup turned to her with surprise as she dipped her hand into the water and took a handful for a drink. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."

"What about you?" Hiccup tried to think of some retort for this girl. He couldn't really tell what she would be here for. But finding her reminded him of the days when he traveled with Toothless to get away from his father and responsibilities a long time ago. "Life ain't what you thought it would be?"

Dahlia scoffed and shook her head. "You have no idea. Things aren't how I thought it would turn out to be."

Hiccup remembered when he could never see himself become chief. He was the Hiccup. Becoming chief was the least of his worries before his father's death. Who wanted a Hiccup when you had a Stoick? Now he wished he actually listened to his father's lessons instead of flying off on Toothless. He's been the chief for a few months now and he still hasn't grasped the ropes. As usual, he was a Hiccup.

"I know how that feels." Hiccup walked over to Dahlia and sat on the banks by her.

"It's just… I had plans. Things I wanted to do for myself. But suddenly, everything just came crashing down. It's like I'm stuck." Dahlia looked over at Hiccup. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. You probably have other things to do than listen to my problems."

Before Hiccup could reply a loud horn echoed through the forest making both riders freeze in their spots. That cannot be good.

"Well, I think that's my cue to leave. I'll see you later, Chief." Dahlia pulled up her hood and stepped closer to her dragon. The Changewing flapped its wings causing fallen leaves to dance around the pair and dust rose causing Hiccup and Toothless' visions to be impaired. When the dust and leaves fell, both the Changewing and the rider were gone.

"Where did she go?" Hiccup exclaimed in annoyance. The dragon growled as it sniffed around for the pair but they were nowhere to be found. Now he has one more problem to add to his never-ending list, but first he needed to fly back to the village. Hiccup sighed in annoyance, but he knew he couldn't ignore the horn from earlier. His duties for the people of Berk weighed greater than his curiosity. He and Toothless can deal with the new rider later. Right now, his presence was needed in his tribe. Before flying off, a small part of Hiccup hoped a new threat or annoyance hasn't found its way to Berk.

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 **Hi Everybody! I know I can't make up excuses about my absence but these past couple of months have been hard on me and I just didn't have time to write anything. But I'm back and I changed some stuff about the stories, but not big changes. I'm really not sure when updates are gonna be but I'll try to update every week.**

 **Please enjoy and leave a review!**


	2. Of Old Bets and New Alliances

**Chapter 2: Of Old Bets and New Alliances**

As Hiccup and Toothless glided towards their village, the boys noticed a single ship, definitely didn't belong to any Hooligan, anchored on Berk's shores with about twenty people gathered on the docks. The chief signaled his dragon to land and saw that Snotlout and Astrid were already speaking with the visitors. Toothless stayed by Hookfang and Stormfly as Hiccup made his way to his friends and the strangers.

"Hiccup," Snotlout called to his cousin as he pulled him over to the person who seemed like the leader of this new group. Hiccup made quick eye contact with Astrid who nodded in acknowledgement.

"So you're Hiccup the Dragon Master," said the man who was almost as big as his father but with hard blue eyes behind bushy dark brown hair. His hair covered his whole face, save for his eye and eyepatch, and his beard reached toward his big belly. "I'm Mogadon the Meathead, Chief of the Meathead tribe. You might not remember me. You were a small boy then." He scanned Hiccup up and down. "Well, smaller."

Hiccup shrugged off the comment and addressed the visitor. "Welcome to Berk, Chief Mogadon. Now, if you don't mind me asking, what is your business here on Berk?"

Mogadon's laugh boomed throughout the whole area. "Quick to the point like your father. I'm here to pay my respects toward your tribe and address an old bet."

"Bet?" Hiccup asked as he looked toward his right hand man. Snotlout only shrugged in confusion while Astrid shook her head.

"Mogadon?" the trio turned around to see Hiccup's mother make her way with Cloudjumper trailing behind her.

"Valka? But how?" Mogadon said in disbelief as Valka stopped beside her son.

She softly smiled at her son. "Let's just say my husband and son found me and I finally returned home."

"Yes. I'm sorry about Stoick," the Meathead cleared his throat as he gave his condolences. "He was a great leader and a formidable challenge."

"This is a nice reunion and all, but I'm still a big confused to the bet you mentioned earlier," the auburn haired chief pointed out. Valka's eyes widened as she looked towards Mogadon. He only nodded in confirmation.

"Why don't we take this to the Great Hall? This will take a while to explain and you've had a long journey," said Valka as she led the Meathead tribe toward the village.

Once the visitors were gone, Hiccup turned to his right hand man and the Captain of the Berk Guards. "Anybody else as confused as I am?" asked Snotlout as he crossed his arms across his chest. Since Drago's attack on Berk, Snotlout gained even more muscle and a light beard resided on his face. To everyone's surprise, Snotlout was appointed Hiccup's right hand man even with his history of bullying his cousin. However, no one questioned Hiccup's decision as Chief of Berk.

"Mogadon mentioned a bet and that caught Mom's attention. So far, I'm as clueless as you guys," shrugged Hiccup. "But for now, let's be on alert in case this so-called bet turns out to be something horrendous. Astrid, I want a few Berk guards on the docks and a few by the Great Hall. Keep them on standby and some on air patrol. Meet us at the Great Hall afterwards" Astrid nodded and ran toward Stormfly without a word.

"What's up with you and Astrid?" Snotlout asked as they watched Astrid and Stormfly fly toward the guard towers.

Hiccup ran a hand through his messy hair. "I honestly have no idea. She's been like that for a while now," Hiccup sighed as he saddled onto Toothless while Snotlout got on Hookfang. "And she won't tell me what's wrong."

"It's probably just a girl thing. You know how weird and emotional they get every month. And because it's Astrid, it's probably worse," his cousin wildly gestured toward their friend. "You're lucky you're still alive."

"I have other things to worry about." Immediately Dahlia popped into his head and his growing headache got worse. He almost forgot that he needed to deal with this mysterious rider on top of the Meatheads landing on Berk. "Snotlout, gather the Twins and Fishlegs and tell them to meet us at the Great Hall."

"Whatever you say, oh mighty Dragon Master," Snotlout flew off to gather the rest of the original dragon riders.

"Let's go, Bud. We have a lot of things we need to figure out." Toothless grumbled in agreement and flew towards the Great Hall. The Night Fury landed by the entrance as Valka and the visitors arrived at the top of the stairs. Hiccup opened the large doors and led them inside as he sat at the head of the table with Toothless by his side while the visitors sat at the tables spread around the hall but close to the chief. It wasn't long before Snotlout, Fishlegs, the Twins, and Astrid arrived in the Great Hall with their dragons. They stood on either side of Hiccup with their dragons behind them.

"Let's start. Shall we?" asked the Chief as he gestured for Mogadon to come forward. "What is this bet you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes. It's nothing really. Just a friendly wager between your father and I in the old days," explained Mogadon.

"More like idiotic bets," scoffed Valka as she remembered all the times she had to witness the old chiefs' challenges and the consequences of the loser. "Which I am pointing out, I did not approve of."

"What do you mean?" asked Fishlegs after hearing Valka's statement.

Valka sighed and recounted her husband and Mogadon's fierce rivalry. "As you know, the Hairy Hooligan and Meathead tribes haven't had the best alliance especially when it concerned arm-wrestling or sheep. Your father and Mogadon were the definition of the shaky alliance due to their constant arm-wrestling matches. So in order to solidify the alliance, they made a bet."

"What was the bet?" Ruffnut asked.

Mogadon stepped up and explained, "In order to strengthen the alliance, we had an arm-wrestling match."

"I'm confused. What does an arm-wrestling match have to do with an alliance?" asked Tuffnut as he scratched his head and turned to his twin.

"The bet was that the winner's son would marry the loser's daughter to strengthen the alliance. Intermarriage between tribes was the best way to solidify an alliance and prevent any fighting between the tribes," Mogadon stated with pride dripping off each word.

Hiccup did not like where this was going. He looked toward his mother for confirmation and she nodded to verify Mogadon's statement. He just needed to know, "Who won?"

"The Meathead Tribe," answered Valka.

"One of my most rememberable wins," chuckled Mogadon.

"But that doesn't make sense," Astrid spoke out. "Hiccup is an only child. And the bet was that the loser had to marry off his daughter."

Hiccup turned toward Astrid as the gears in his head began to turn. Since his mother never had any more children after him, the alliance would not make sense. One side had to marry off a daughter and to his knowledge, Mogadon only had a son who was the Chief of the Meathead tribe. Would he be forced to send an innocent girl to marry into the Meathead tribe due to his father's competitiveness? He did not want to have to choose one of his tribeswomen especially if it was one of his friends.

"That is not problem at all because my daughter would gladly marry your chief," said Mogadon.

"Your daughter?" asked Valka. She did not recall Mogadon ever having a daughter. She remembered Thuggory who was a few months older than Hiccup when the Hairy Hooligans traveled to the Meathead tribe.

"Yes. It was a few years later when we learned about your so-called death. We knew you only had a son, so I figured to try and keep the alliance for the future, I would need to have a daughter. My wife and I were blessed with a daughter the next year. The alliance was crucial at that time especially with the dragon attacks and wars with the other tribes."

The young chief's mind stopped working for a few seconds as the information processed in his mind. His father agreed to an arrange marriage before his birth. And because his mother never had another child after him, the Meathead tribe is marrying off their old chief's daughter to solidify an alliance between the two tribes. A marriage in order to solidify an alliance. Sure it was practical, but not when he was involved.

How many things did his father leave him? An arrange marriage was simply not a challenge he wanted to face. The Meathead Chief basically offered up his daughter in order to ensure peace to both tribes. Marrying into a tribe wasn't common due to the prospect of pledging to one tribe and the chance of never seeing your old tribe again. The history books have records of many Vikings, his own ancestors, who offered up their daughters or nieces for marriage alliances. But, of course, that dissolved after a few generations due to the wars. An alliance by marriage never lasts.

He looked toward Astrid who only had a stone cold face. He could not read her emotions nor see her thoughts on the matter. It was probably best that he couldn't. He could already see where this was going and he knew she understood the situation perfectly. It was like everything around him turned into a mess. Suddenly it was like he was Hiccup the, well, hiccup. The Chief of Berk knew he was going to mess something up or everything was going to go up in flames again.

Hiccup looked at the few Meathead visitors behind Mogadon but did not see a single female with them. The men conversed with themselves or gobbled up all the food they were offered for their long journey. "Then where is your daughter?" Hiccup asked.

"You really call yourself a Dragon Master?" Mogadon chuckled as the rest of his small group began quietly laughing. This confused the small group of Hooligans while their chief was even more confused. "Well, I'm a bit surprised you haven't noticed her yet, Hiccup." The Meathead Chief looked towards the ceiling as the rest followed suit. It was a while before anybody noticed the slight shifts on the roof.

Suddenly, a dragon appeared out of nowhere putting the riders' dragons on high alert. How could the dragons not have detected or smelled another dragon blended into the ceiling?

"A Changewing?" Fishlegs asked. While the rest were surprised about the Changewing, the dragon opened its wings to reveal a person hanging onto the vine-like appendages behind the dragon's ears. Once the person safely landed on the floor, the Changewing flew down and landed behind her rider. The mysterious rider wore a familiar red cloak and walked towards Mogadon.

"Hiccup the Dragon Master, I would like to introduce you to my daughter, Dahlia the Disappearing." The person pulled back her hood to reveal dark brown hair cascading down her shoulders and crystal blue eyes. A sly smile graced her face as she looked up at the Hooligan Chief.

Hiccup stood up from his chair and stared wide-eye at the girl who attacked him earlier. "You."

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 **There aren't much changes to this chapter, but enjoy anyway! Please leave a review!**


	3. The Welcoming Party

**Chapter 3: The Welcoming Party**

The Hooligan chief gaped in utter disbelief. The girl who disappeared right before Hiccup's eyes was right in front of him. She stood tall and proud with her hands on her hips and a mischievous smile.

Dahlia took off her red cloak to reveal a dark blue dress that reached to the middle of her thighs. The dress had slits on the sides that went up to her hips and a belt with two daggers attached. A gray fur cape was clipped onto the shoulders of her dress. On her back was the spear she threateningly held before him earlier. Even though it was getting warmer, she wore black leggings under her dress and fur-lined brown boots. To Hiccup, she looked graceful but rather threatening. Rarely does he see this combination.

"H-How long have you been up there?" asked Snotlout who stood mouth agape at the beauty in front of him.

"Not that long," shrugged Dahlia as she walked up to a table and grabbed an apple. Before biting it, she said, "Been here before any of you got here, that's for sure."

Mogadon's laughter boomed throughout the whole hall at his daughter's cheek. "Best female dragon rider on the Islands. Excelled in sword fighting, archery, and spear training. And the prized beauty of the Meathead tribe."

"Daddy, stop embarrassing me!" Dahlia groaned before tossing the apple core to her Changewing, who happily ate it. She stroked her dragon's snot before address the Hooligan Chief. "Good Afternoon Dragon Master. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The brown haired chief just grunted in reply as he noticed the subtle knowing look Dahlia sported under her innocent smile. Behind him, Toothless recognized the scent of the dragon and her master and began to threateningly growl to them. His teeth were barred at the duo as the Changewing mimicked his movement. "Toothless," Hiccup gasped. He placed his hand on Toothless's head to try and keep him calm.

"Gem, not now," Dahlia whispered to her dragon who immediately sat back and stared at the Night Fury. Ready to attack if her rider was ever threatened.

Toothless also sat back down beside his master and stared at the Changewing. Both dragons seemed to be having a staring match, so Hiccup tried to carry on the meeting. "Welcome to Berk, Dahlia," Hiccup formally greeted. It took every ounce of his power not to start bombarding this disappearing rider with questions. "I hope your arrival at Berk was pleasant."

"Yes. I've already learned so much since landing here," grinned Dahlia. "And I look forward to getting to know Berk a little bit more."

"Ha! Look at that! Already getting along!" Mogadon opened his arms wide and crinkled his eyes in happiness. "I'm so happy to be able to call the Dragon Master my new son-in-law."

Hiccup blushed at the statement and grinned awkwardly at the happy father. He wasn't really sure what to say to the Meathead chief. He couldn't outright refuse this engagement because it would start another war. He had to go along with it a bit more. Though he knew his tribe is highly skilled in fighting and defending their home, avoiding a war at all cost is the best bet on ensuring everyone survives. The safety of the village comes before his own interests. He could already feel how much the safety of the village is going to hurt his shoulder.

"And what would be this beautiful creature's name?" asked Valka as the Changewing purred lovingly at the attention she was receiving. His mother stroked the dragon's snout while examining its vine-like appendages.

"Gem," answered the female rider.

"My daughter found Gem when she was barely ten years old," boasted Mogadon.

"Dad, I was thirteen. No need to exaggerate," said Dahlia as she shook her head at her father's cheerful manner. "I saved her more like it. I found her wounded and surrounded by a pack of Speedstingers. Poor girl couldn't move at all."

Valka nodded and cooed at the Changewing. "Well, I'm happy Gem has found a worthy and caring rider for herself." Dahlia blushed at the compliment. She knew this woman was the Dragon Master's mother and from the way Gem was cooing at her, Dahlia knew she would like her too.

"Well, since introductions are over and done with, I think a welcoming party would be appropriate and it gives our tribes a reason to eat and drink," announced Hiccup. He was itching to get out of this hall. "Ruff, Tuff, why don't you guys take Gem towards the stables? Unless you have more dragons? We have custom stables for various dragons and they'll be served with the finest fish Berk has to offer."

Dahlia shook her head. "Nope, we only brought Gem. She will enjoy this special treatment."

"Excellent. Then I'll take her, milady," smirked Tuffnut as he bowed down at her.

Ruffnut came up behind her twin and pushed him over. "Ugh, that's digusting. And I'll be taking her dragon."

Tuffnut growled at his sister and angrily shoved her back. "Well, you know what? Your mom is disgusting. And no, I'll be taking her!"

"Are you stupid? We have the same mom, genius!"

"Enough guys!" Hiccup stood up from his chair to address the twins. "Both of you can take her to the stables together and no fighting."

"Whatever," the twins said before turning around and leading the dragon to the stables. Before they even left the Great Hall, they were bumping and punching each other as Barf and Belch followed behind them. Before her dragon left, Dahlia stroked her snot lovingly and instructed her to follow the twins.

Hiccup groaned in annoyance and turned towards to the Gronkle rider. "Fishlegs, can you lead our guests to some houses they can stay in for the duration of their stay? That is, how long will you be planning to stay?"

"Just until we can restock," Mogadon said.

Hiccup nodded as the Meathead tribe began following Fishlegs and Meatlug out the Great Hall. Before following her tribe, Dahlia turned around and glared at Hiccup. Nobody else but Hiccup noticed the malice because the female rider immediately flashed a smile. The Hooligan chief gulped and turned to his right hand man.

"Snotlout, we're going to be having a welcoming party for the guests, so can you deal with that for me? Please?"

"Anything to get mead and a party going on," Snotlout shrugged and ordered Hookfang to follow him out. He happily walked out. Most likely thinking about how much he could drink and eat tonight.

"Astrid, you can call off the guards now. I don't think there'll be any threats any time soon." Astrid merely nodded and quietly left the room with Stormfly following behind her. Her silent treatment was kind of getting to him since all she ever talked to him about was the Berk Guards and her patrols. He knew he needed to talk to her about his sudden arranged marriage. He could already feel how much this is going to hurt.

Hiccup sighed and fell back into his chair. Toothless crooned at his master in concern but was ignored. He snorted and left his master to his troubles. He wanted to go meet the Changewing that entered his territory. He growled at Cloudjumper to follow him, and he followed his alpha with no questions.

Hiccup groaned with frustration. Today was not his day. He really did not know how to handle this news. It's not like he could make Toothless plasma blast the problem and burn it away. The only solution would be to try and talk Dahlia out of this marriage arrangement. Maybe then he didn't have to worry about keeping an alliance if both parties didn't want to be married. Would that even work?

"I know what you're thinking, son," said Valka as she put her hand on her son's tense shoulders. "You're probably thinking about ways to get out of this. Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing nobody can really get out of."

"And can you please explain to me why since it seems like you were present on the day my engagement was decided?" the Hooligan Chief exasperatedly asked. He got up from his chair and started pacing back and forth.

"As I said earlier, I was very much against forcing my son or daughter to an arranged marriage. I wanted you to find love on your own like I did with your father," Valka explained as she took her son's seat. At the mention of his late father, Hiccup stopped pacing and turned to his mother. "However, circumstances were different then. There were a lot of wars and attacks on many of the tribes that the only way to keep peace and ensure the safety of the tribes, an alliance had to be made. Your father and Mogadon thought that the best alliance was a marriage. At the time, neither of them had heirs, so they agreed that a temporary alliance would be made until each of their children would be married in the future."

"But why wasn't I told of this before? Why now?"

"Your father must have thought that it wasn't time yet. We agreed that the marriage would be made when the daughter turned eighteen. I negotiated that rule after your father lost the arm-wrestling match. I did not want to lose a daughter but that was the latest age they could agree on." Valka got up from the chair and stood in front of her son. She gave him a small smile before grabbing his shoulders. "But I was blessed with an extraordinary son."

Hiccup returned the smile. "But why didn't you tell me before? Was it because of Astrid? Is that why you have always been uneasy about us when you found out?"

Valka sighed and nodded to her son. "I was very much surprised when I found out you and Astrid were together. I was so happy and proud of you, but then I remembered the alliance made with the Meathead Tribe. That's why I always tried to caution you. I'm sorry, son. I didn't know how to tell you."

"You didn't know how to tell me that I could not marry the girl of my dreams because I would be forced to marry a girl I barely even know."

"No. Don't think about it that way, Hiccup. Especially not to that sweet girl. Unfortunately like you, she had no choice in the matter."

"Thanks. That makes me feel so much better," said the auburn haired chief. He walked towards his chair and fell back with a groan. "What am I even going to tell Astrid? She's probably already thought of different ways to kill me."

"I'm sure she understands the situation, Hiccup. There are just some things you can't change and even I'm not sure how this could be negotiated. Your father and Mogadon were very adamant on this alliance. Just give her a chance, Hiccup. She might turn out to be your perfect match." Valka smiled and gave her son a kiss on his head. "Like your father was to me. I'm going to go make sure our guests are comfortable."

Hiccup merely grunted and sunk further into his chair. This was not part of his job description. "What in Odin's beard am I supposed to do now?" he said before dropping his head into his hands. Without a second thought, he left the Great Hall to try and find Toothless. Hopefully, he can at least get some flying in before he had to prepare for the feast.

Hiccup went around the Great Hall making sure everything was in order. Before the party, his mother made sure he was dressed appropriately for the occasion. Hiccup insisted on wearing his armor and flightsuit while Valka prepared the best fur cape for her son to wear. Hiccup felt the softness of the fur that draped over his shoulders and were held by the metal shoulder clasps. His mother told him that this used to be his father's cape. He had to wear it with great pride and at least try to survive the night.

"How's everything going Snotlout?" he asked his cousin who already had a drink in his hand.

"Pretty good so far. The decorations are up and done, the food is ready, and the mead is strong," informed the Monstrous Nightmare rider before taking a gulp.

"Great. I'm gonna need it after tonight," said Hiccup as he waved at a couple of people.

"Lighten up, Hiccup." Snotlout swatted Hiccup at the back, which caused the Chief to lose his breath and choke on air. The second-in-command didn't even blink at his chief's distress. "You literally have two girls in your hands. And the new one's pretty hot."

"Shut it, Snotlout," growled Hiccup. "I'm not like you or Tuffnut. And she's nice, I guess." ' _That is, if she's not holding a dagger to my crotch_ ,' thought Hiccup, thinking about earlier in the day when he first met Dahlia.

"Speaking about nice, look who just walked in." Snotlout nodded towards the doors, and for a while, Hiccup thought Dahlia was actually gliding into the room. She smiled brightly at everyone and greeted his tribe. It seems she left her weapons, save for a few daggers he could see on her belt, and her red cloak for the night. The brunette rider presented herself in high regard as all the attention was directed at her.

"You might want to close that big mouth of yours before a Fireworm flies in there." Snotlout pushed his cousin's mouth closed, which caused the Chief to jump back and grab his chin from the quick pain. Hiccup glared at his cousin and massaged his mouth.

"Chief of Berk!" Mogadon addressed Hiccup as he clasped his back. Even though he was a bit leaner and muscular than when he was a teenager, he could still feel the pain and tried to smile through it.

"Evening, Chief Mogadon," Hiccup greeted and straightened himself up. "I hope the party is to your liking."

"Always do when I'm here. Berk always had the best mead." With that, the Chief of the Meatheads took a swig of his drink. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find Spitelout. Time for another arm-wrestling match."

As the Meathead Chief left, Hiccup noticed his daughter off to the side leaning onto a column and looking around the room. It was now or never. Hiccup cleared his throat and walked over to the girl. Was it just him or did his peg leg suddenly felt heavier than before? The male rider cleared his throat and got the girl's attention. "So when were you planning on telling me who you really were?"

Dahlia raised her eyebrow at the Chief. "I don't know what you're talking about. I told you who I was."

"Yeah, but you left out the part that you were betrothed to the Chief of Berk which would be me," Hiccup pointed out.

The girl huffed in annoyance. "I thought you already knew. That was the only reason why I would be here. If it was up to me, I wouldn't even be on Berk talking to you, much less betrothed to somebody I barely know."

"Well, I didn't. This is as much news to me as it is for you. This is seriously the last thing I need right now." Hiccup grabbed the wooden column Dahlia was leaning against and began banging his head as if to wake him up from this nightmare. Maybe he'll wake up soon.

"What are you doing? I've already tried that. Didn't work and I ended up giving myself a concussion."

Hiccup groaned at the rising headache. "There has to be some way we can end this. Maybe look into a possible loop hole."

"Tried that too. I even tried to ask nicely. My dad is pretty adamant about this engagement happening."

Hiccup could already tell Dahlia was pretty miserable about the whole situation. Her brow was furrowed while she watched his tribe dance and sing in merriment about the whole engagement. He still wasn't sure what his thoughts are about the engagement entirely. Everything was so sudden that a few hours wasn't enough to process the whole situation.

"The best thing to do is just accept it at this point. I can't let my tribe down and I don't think you can either since you are chief and all."

He really couldn't. It was worse that it was his late father's wish. He wanted to respect his father's decisions because ultimately, his father's choices were for the benefit of the tribe. Even if some of it didn't make sense or it gave Hiccup a pounding headache, he needed to understand the situation from his father's point of view and what he wanted for the tribe. Gods, being chief was difficult.

"So then, what now?" Hiccup asked.

"We act happy that we're betrothed to each other. We can't show or tell anybody that we're both miserable about this because then they will question everything," Dahlia explained with a frustrated sigh. "That, and I really don't want to deal with people getting in our business."

He could agree to that. He knew how gossipy Vikings could be especially if it involved their chief. He definitely didn't need more problems within the tribe. Speaking of problems, Hiccup's eyes immediately zoned in on Astrid who was standing at the other side of the hall. She was by herself as always with a drink in her hand. She had the usual scowl on her face while she watched the dancing and singing. Hiccup really wished he knew what was wrong with Astrid, but she refused to talk to him.

"… are you even listening to me?"

"Wait what?" Hiccup probably had a stupid look on his face that indicated he wasn't listening to her at all.

"Ugh. I knew there was a reason I wasn't going to like you."

"Hey. What's that supposed to mean?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the girl as she crossed her arms and stared ahead.

"I said as far as I'm concerned, you're one of the reasons why I'm stuck in this hell hole. Don't think I'm going to make this easier for you just because we're stuck in the same situation. My duty to my tribe comes before anything else even my own interests."

"Why?"

Dahlia gave him a pointed look. "What do you mean? Why I don't like you? Well, first off I'm stuck with you so that already places you at the bottom of the list of people I don't like." Ouch. "Two, you're stupid enough to think I don't see you looking at that girl over there."

What? Astrid?

"What?"

"Ever since the meeting earlier, you were always looking at her. What is she to you? Somebody you have a crush on? Unrequited love?" Dahlia taunted.

Hiccup glanced over at Astrid who was pulled into a dance by Eret. She was struggling most of the time but complied when the others joined in.

"Ex-lover?"

"She's my girlfriend."

That stopped her taunting. Dahlia's eyes widened in surprise. A girlfriend? This situation is more messed up than she realized. "Oh. What are you going to do?"

"I'm not really sure."

* * *

 **This are getting messy in Berk, but hopefully Hiccup can solve it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review!**


	4. Practice

**Chapter 4: Practice**

After a long night of partying, Berk wasn't as lively as it usually was. Most of it was because many of the Vikings used the excuse of their chief's engagement as a reason to drink and celebrate as much as they can. It lasted through the night that even the dragons were enjoying themselves with their riders.

After talking to Dahlia, they separated to their own tribe. The Chief himself drank a bit more than he usually did, but not because he was celebrating his engagement. No, it was to try and forget about his engagement and enjoy the party a bit. Not a very good idea since the next morning, he was groaning in pain from the headache that was slowly growing more torturous. Hiccup tried not to open his eyes and felt around for something to lean on. He grudgingly pulled himself up and tried not to fall back down from dizziness.

This was the perfect time for his mother to come barging in, which she did, very loudly. "Hiccup! What are you doing still in bed? A chief must always be up and about before his people," said Valka as she looked disapprovingly at the messy piles of paper strewn around the room.

"Mom," the twenty year old whined, "most of the villagers are probably sleeping off the headache like I would be doing. It feels like a herd of Gronkles just trampled on my head."

"And whose fault is that?" Valka placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. Her son wasn't even looking at her. He was too busy groaning in pain and had his face pressed against the palm of his hands. "Never mind. Get dressed and ready. You're spending the day with Dahlia today."

"What?!" Hiccup immediately regretted his decision as the outburst created another wave of headaches. "But Mom, what about my patrols? I have stuff that need to be done."

"Don't worry about them. I wasn't your father's wife for nothing. I'll be handling them." Valka walked over to her son's trunk and grabbed a clean shirt for him to wear. "You just worry about handling your future wife." Without another word, she left his room and let Toothless into his room.

"Morning Toothless," yawned Hiccup. Toothless pleasantly greeted Hiccup with his morning breath and Hiccup instantly forgot about his headache as he had the urge to throw up. "That's disgusting! What have you been eating?!" Toothless laughed at his rider's displeasure. He sat back as Hiccup began dressing for the day. Since he wasn't going to be doing any aerial stunts with Toothless or expecting an attack, Hiccup found a clean pair of brown pants and grabbed the red tunic his mom laid out. He ruffled his hair and tried to sweep his bangs off his eyes. He grabbed a vest that had the straps he needed if he and Toothless decided to fly a bit today.

"Even though I got my own place, Mom still feels the need to give me a wake up call," said Hiccup as he strapped his leg on. Toothless chirped as if talking to Hiccup. "You're right. She did miss a big part of my life." As Hiccup walked down the stairs towards the main part of the house, he could smell the breakfast his mom laid out for him. He really can't complain when his mom still prepares his meals. Hiccup knew it made her happy when she did simple things for him. Toothless's ears perked up and he immediately ran outside. Hiccup figured it was the basket of fish his mom always brought for his dragon.

After scarfing down his breakfast, Hiccup joined Toothless outside who was just finishing his breakfast. "Come on, Toothless. We gotta go greet the guests." Toothless grumbled at his rider before swallowing the last fish. He bounded beside his master towards the houses the foreign guests were staying.

"Morning Chief!" greeted Bucket, who was carrying a bucket of fish.

"Morning Bucket. Where are you off to?" asked Hiccup.

"Fishlegs said he wanted a bucket of fish at the Academy. Something about team bonding," said Bucket. "Oh yeah. He also told me to tell you to meet them at the Academy after breakfast."

"Thanks. Tell them me and Toothless will be there in a little while," said Hiccup. Bucket nodded and walked towards the Academy whistling a happy tune. It was a quick walk from his house to the houses the guests were staying. Once he became chief, Hiccup decided to move out of his old house and build a new one on top of a hill that looked over the village. He also had a personal stable for Toothless to sleep in so that both rider and dragon were close by if they were needed.

When they got to the guesthouses, Hiccup noticed that the Meathead tribe was doing some sort of group practice. It looked intense for Hiccup but it seemed most of them were having fun competing against one another. Some were wrestling each other and others were battling with weapons. However, Hiccup noticed that one person trained harder than the rest of the tribe. While the dragon was lounging under the sun, the rider was fighting against four beefed-up Vikings with only a spear as a weapon. It looked like a circle was drawn around the fighters to represent the 'arena'.

As the men charged at Dahlia, she flipped over the one coming to her from the front and used her hand to push him towards the other three. She landed with grace like she was dancing on feathers. Her right hand gripped the spear that was originally on her back when they first met. It was a three pronged spear with red feathers tied where the metal met wood. She easily defended herself with her spear when one of the Vikings came at her with a sword and sliced down. Dahlia used her spear to catch the sword and push it away from her. With her spear, she flipped it to the dull side and pushed the Viking out of the circle. He fell with a thump and laughed it off as he cheered on the other two Vikings left.

Both Vikings decided to attack Dahlia at the same time. With quick speed, Dahlia flicked two knives to the ground in front of the Viking coming from her left. At the moment, she used her spear to evade the axe and kicked the Viking out of the circle. But due to her smaller stature, she had to jump from the ground and use both feet to kick the Viking. She flipped back from her chest and landed low with one leg stretched out to the left and her spear mirroring her leg.

"Wow," marveled Hiccup.

The got Dahlia's attention after she got up from her low stance. She turned around and saw Hiccup and Toothless watching her fight. Before she knew it, she was tackled to the ground with a sword to her throat. 'Dammit,' Dahlia cursed as she felt her spear being thrown away from her.

"Dahlia! Do not get distracted!" shouted Mogadon who was intently watching his daughter's fight. It seemed like he was the only serious one watching Dahlia's every move and assessing her. "In a real battle, that kind of mistake would have caused you your life."

The Viking who pinned down Dahlia got off of her and offered his hand to help her up. She shook her head and got up on her own. "Yes Dad," she said as she grabbed her spear and knives.

"You still have a long way to go before you're ready." With that, Mogadon signaled his other tribesmen to stop whatever they were doing. Most of them left Dahlia who was still standing in the middle of the circle with a downcast fast.

"Hey."

At that moment, Hiccup noticed that most hateful and vengeful glare of his life. Even Astrid's glare couldn't compare to Dahlia's. It felt like he was being frozen to death by her icy glare. He took a step back ready for the punch he knew was coming his way, but he receive none. Just an angry glare. "What do you want?"

"Just came to greet our guests. I am chief and all." He looked around at the Meathead exercise routine and noticed groups of Vikings fighting each other off to the side. "I see your tribe has a higher tolerance to mead than my tribe."

"The soldiers knew they had training in the morning so they tried not to drink as much as they usually would."

"And I see you're okay."

Dahlia made a face. "I'm not really one for drinking. I never got used to it."

"Hiccup, my boy, what are you doing here in this fine morning? I thought you would be resting after celebrating your engagement to my daughter," Mogadon's voice boomed in his head, which didn't help the headache rising again. He really wished he didn't drink as much as he did.

Hiccup tried not to cringe. And it wasn't because of the headache. "Chief Mogadon. Good morning. I hope the party was to your liking?"

"Yes. Yes. My men enjoyed themselves greatly and I, myself, enjoyed arm wrestling with your uncle again," Mogadon chuckled at the memory of the night.

"That's good to hear."

"Now what do we have the pleasure of having the Chief of Berk greet us this morning?"

"I was wondering if I could take your daughter and show her around the island." Behind Mogadon, Hiccup could see Dahlia cringe at the idea and shook her head.

"Well, she hasn't finished her morning exercise yet." Dahlia smiled and nodded her head. "But I don't see why she can't skip for one day." Dahlia's face contorted into a grimace.

"But Dad, I'm sure the Great Dragon Master has other important things to do," scoffed Dahlia as she stroked Gem's snout. "Chiefly duties and all."

"Not really. I was just going to go meet up with a couple of my friends at the Academy."

"Excellent. Why don't you go with him and meet some new people, Dahlia?" Mogadon pulled Dahlia away from Gem and pushed her into Hiccup's arms. Without his quick reflexes, Dahlia would've face planted on the ground. "Go enjoy yourselves, lads."

Lavender and newly sharpened steel. Usually he wouldn't notice anyone's smell since Vikings usually only smell of grime and sweat and more grime. Not the best combination, but Dahlia was different. She was different than the rest of them.

Dahlia pushed herself away from Hiccup and grabbed his arm. "Fine, let's go. Come on Gem." As soon as they were far enough that her father couldn't hear here, she said, "Don't get the wrong idea. I still hate you. I just have nothing else to do for the rest of my day since I'm stuck here on Berk. Now let's go." She let go of Hiccup's hand and walked faster with Gem trailing behind her.

Hiccup looked over to Toothless and it looked like Toothless was as confused as he was. The boys just stared at the girls' retreating figures. Even though he was in a relationship with Astrid, girls still confused him to death. He can understand dragons perfectly, but it was like girls were the most confusing creatures in the world even though they spoke the same language. This was one more girl he had to decipher. And it looks like it won't be any easier.

"What are you waiting for, slowpokes?" Hiccup looked up and saw Dahlia waiting for them. Her hand was on her hip to show a bit of annoyance. She had a small smirk on her face and as the wind blew her hair, Hiccup could have sworn he heard horns blowing. Her wild brown hair flowing behind her, Gem and her weapons making her look deadly, and her mischievous blue eyes inviting him. He felt his heart quicken and his throat close up a bit as he kept staring at Gem. "Well?"

It took Toothless bumping him to get him out of his daydreams. Hiccup shook his head and ran to Dahlia leading the way to the Academy. At the moment, Hiccup swore to Odin that he would not fall in love with Dahlia. She hated him. He had Astrid even if she hasn't been talking to him lately. An arrange marriage is the only thing he shared with Dahlia. Nothing else.

When the riders and dragons arrived at the Academy, they found six other riders and dragons talking amongst themselves. "Hey guys," greeted Hiccup to get everybody else's attention. They turned and saw their Chief and the girl who Hiccup announced as his future wife at the party the night before.

"Hey Hiccup," said Fishlegs. He came up with his Gronkle following behind him. He turned to Dahlia and gave her a friendly smile. "Hi. I don't think we've officially met yet. I'm Fishlegs. Dragon expert. I know everything about dragons."

"Fishlegs here works at the Academy teaching the next riders how to train their dragons. He also teaches them the History of Berk and everything there is to know about dragons," explained Hiccup. "That's his Gronkle, Meatlug. She's a real softy." Dahlia gave a shy smile and turned towards two blondes who were pushing their way towards her.

"Hey. You're pretty hot," said the guy as he stared at her

"Ew. And you're disgusting," said the girl as she pushed her twin away. "Hey. We kind of met yesterday. Name's Ruffnut. The ugly one is Tuffnut."

"We're twins, dummy. That means we're both ugly," said Tuff as he bumped Ruff away. "Don't listen to her. She's the stupid one."

"Why you!" This prompted another fight between the twins.

Hiccup grabbed Dahlia by the shoulders and steered her away from the twins. "Ruff and Tuff are dragon tamers. They help me tame new dragons and baby dragons. They like to play pranks and get on everyone's nerves, but they're good guys deep down. Incidentally, they share a Hideous Zippleback, Barf and Belch."

Dahlia nodded at the information and was greeted by another face. "Well, aren't you a beauty? I'm Eret, son of Eret." He grabbed Dahlia's hand and placed a kiss on it. The action made Dahlia blush while Hiccup felt annoyed by his friend's gesture. "If you need anything, just ask."

"Eret used to catch dragons for Bludfist's dragon army, but now he captures hurt dragons and brings them here to Berk for recuperation. He also teaches some of the younger riders how to play Dragon Racing. This is his dragon, Skullcrusher. He used to be my dad's dragon, but now he proudly protects Berk with Eret."

"What's Dragon Racing?" asked Dahlia.

Before Hiccup could answer her, Snotlout pushed him away and wrapped his arm around Dahlia's shoulders. "Hey there, babe. We met yesterday but I don't think I've introduced you to your knight in shining armor yet. Me." Snotlout puffed out his chest while Dahlia looked like she was trying not to laugh.

"And this is my cousin, Snotlout."

"Chief's right hand man and Berk's official weapons tester. If you need anything, just come to me, babe. I'm sure Hiccup here is going to be busy with his chiefly duties. If you need a sparing partner or somebody to spend time with, I'm here for ya. Me and Hookfang here are free also available if you want any night time flights with your dragon."

Before Hiccup could retort at his cousin, Dahlia said, "I think I'm okay, knight in shining armor. As for a sparing partner, I think I'm good." Dahlia grabbed Snotlout's arm off her shoulder and easily flipped him on his back. She placed her foot on his chest and smirked down. "I'm a big girl." Dahlia walked away from Snotlout towards Hiccup. He was standing by a blonde girl with an angry look on her face that she tried to hide.

"Dahlia, this is the captain of the Berk Guards, Astrid, and this is her dragon, Stormfly," introduced Hiccup.

Astrid offered a hand towards Dahlia and forced a smile. "Nice to meet you."

Dahlia placed her hand in Astrid's hand and felt her hand being crushed. Never one for losing, Dahlia also used her strength to squeeze the other girl's hand. Dahlia smirked when she saw Astrid wince. "Same." Dahlia let go of Astrid's hand and turned to Hiccup. "So what do you guys usually do here?"

"Well, we're actually about to start some team building exercises," said Fishlegs.

"Why? We work great with our dragons," asked Tuff as he seized fighting with his sister.

"I didn't mean with our dragons. I meant with each other. Now that we have Eret and Dahlia here, I feel that we need to work on our teamwork a little bit more," explained Fishlegs.

"That's a great idea. It helps us get to know Dahlia and Eret's flying skills," exclaimed Hiccup to keep anyone from protesting.

"Actually, me and Gem are gonna sit this one out," said Gem.

"What? Why?" asked Hiccup.

Dahlia shrugged at the group of riders. "Me and Gem are more of solo gliders. We don't work well with others."

She heard Astrid scoff and, under her breath, said, "Wonder why…"

Dahlia ignored the Deadly Nader rider and turned to Hiccup. "We'll just stay down here."

"But Changewings usually work in packs," said Fishlegs.

The Changewing rider shook her head. "Not Gem." She stroked Gem's snout, which caused said dragon to purr in comfort. "Gem is a bit of a loner and only likes to work with me. She doesn't do well with others especially when she's flying."

Hiccup noticed that Dahlia had a downcast look on her face like she was ashamed, so he decided to bring the focus back to Fishleg's idea. "Alright. So it will just be the seven of us. Let's go."

At Hiccup's command, every rider except for Dahlia mounted their dragons and flew to the sky. From the ground, Dahlia looked up and noticed Hiccup leading the group with gliding exercises and different formations. Their formations always had Hiccup in front of everybody as he formed commands with his arms. Along the way, they adjusted their formations and taught Eret where he should be. If one of them messed up, they simply laughed it off and adjusted accordingly with Hiccup leading them.

Dahlia sighed and leaned only Gem. She pulled her knees to her body and buried her face on her knees. Gem crooned at her rider and poked her with her snout. "I'm okay, Gem. I'm sorry I can't do that. Not yet." Gem felt her rider's distress and pulled her closer with her tail. Dahlia smiled at her dragon and scratched under his chin. "Thanks girl. I'll be okay."

"Hiccup!" Dahlia's gaze immediately shot up and saw Hiccup falling from the sky. Her heart began to race, but she couldn't move. Fear kept her on the ground as she watched Hiccup plummet to the ground. She wanted to move. She wanted to save him. But she couldn't even move a single inch. She was pathetic. Dahlia felt her chest tightening and she tried taking deep breaths, but got dizzier. The rider could fell the air constricting around her and the feeling of falling kept her heart pounding on her chest.

Thankfully before Hiccup hit the ground, Toothless scooped him up and they immediately flew higher until they were where the others were. To her disbelief, Toothless began laughing at himself and signaled his friends to continue their exercises.

Dahlia fell back and buried her face into Gem's warm belly. She had to keep herself sane and her breathing even. It wasn't her that was falling. It was Hiccup and Toothless saved him in time. He was safe. She was safe. She wasn't falling. She was okay. She was on the ground with Gem. They weren't flying. They were okay.

Gem nudged at her rider and whimpered when she felt her shaking. The dragon kept prodding at her rider until Dahlia looked up from Gem's belly. "I'm okay, Gem. It's okay." Dahlia gripped her fur cape and pulled her against her. She needed to compose herself before anyone sees her.

Dahlia heard the flutter of wings and saw the group of riders landing in front of her. At least she got her breathing even now. Hopefully no one noticed her panic attack. She stood up as Hiccup and Toothless landed in front of her. "I must say that was impressive." She placed her hand on her hip and smirked at Hiccup. The chief could feel his cheeks heat up under the girl's gaze and sheepishly laughed.

"If you like that, you should see me and Hookfang in action," boasted Snotlout as he puffed his chest. "Two hundred pounds of muscle and greatness."

Dahlia sauntered over to Snotlout and decided to flirt with him a bit. She placed her hand on his bicep and squeezed it. "Mmm… two hundred pounds, huh?" Dahlia could see Snotlout gulp and blush a bit. Probably not used to the female attention he craved. "You should see _me_ in action then." Once again Dahlia grabbed Snotlout by his wrist flipped him over her shoulder. She smirked down at him and left him lying on the ground.

Hiccup was still shocked by the sheer strength Dahlia had. She looked to be as thin as he was five years ago, but she's been flipping men over twice her size since this morning. And she looked good doing it. Flipping his annoying cousin over her shoulder helped too.

"Hey Hiccup. I'm getting hungry. Take me somewhere to eat," Dahlia ordered. Still dazed by her display of strength, Hiccup nodded and led her to his mom's house. Toothless and Gem followed behind their riders after roaring their goodbyes to the other dragons.

"I'm gonna go get some grub too. I'll see you guys later," said Fishlegs as he waved goodbye to his friends.

"Well don't they make a cute couple?" Eret pointed out.

Astrid scoffed and glared daggers at Dahlia's retreating figure. Feeling like she needed to hit something, Astrid grabbed her axe and mounted Stromfly.

"What's up with her?" asked Eret as he looked at Skullcrusher.

"The real question is what's up with him," said Tuff as he poked Snotlout, who was still laid on the ground, with a stick. He had a stupid look on his face, but he was smiling.

"I have no idea. You think he's brain dead?" asked Ruff as she kicked Snotlout on his foot.

"That would be so cool!"

"Let's sacrifice him to Loki!" The twins began a series of chants and praises for Loki while dancing around the dazed Snotlout.

* * *

 **What do you guys think? There aren't any major changes on this chapter either, but I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review!**


	5. Flight Fright

**Chapter 5: Flight Fright**

"Thanks for the lunch again, Mrs. Haddock," said Dahlia as she and Hiccup exited his old home. "The soup came out so great!"

"Well, it wouldn't have turned out great if it wasn't for your help," chuckled Valka. "And please, just call me Valka. Now make sure you both visit me soon, okay? I have so many stories to tell about Hiccup when he was but a babe. And Dahlia, keep Hiccup out of trouble. You know how boys tend to attract trouble wherever they go."

Dahlia laughed while Hiccup turned red with embarrassment. Hiccup grabbed Dahlia by the shoulders and steered her away from his mother. "Alright. Thanks Mom. We'll be going now. Wave goodbye Dahlia."

Valka laughed at her son's antics and waved goodbye at their retreating figures. She had a good feeling about those two. She looked to the statue of her late husband and smiled at him. "They remind me of us, Stoick."

Once they were out of Valka's sight, Dahlia pushed Hiccup off of her shoulders. She crinkled her nose. "Don't touch me so familiarly again even if it's in front of people. Remember, I still hate you." She huffed and let Hiccup catch up to her.

"We agreed to act civil towards each other in front of other people, Dahlia. And that includes letting them see that we're getting along," whispered Hiccup as some of his tribesmen walked by and waved at the couple.

"Well, keep it to a minimum, okay?" said Dahlia as she smiled and waved at the tribesmen.

"Alright. But you do know, you can't hate me forever since we'll basically be spending the rest of our lives together."

"Watch me."

"Stubborn Viking."

Hiccup realized the mistake he made. From the corner of his eye, he could see Dahlia's eye twitch and immediately glared at him. Out of habit, Hiccup shrinked back and got himself ready for a sharp pain. He waited, but nothing came. He slowly straightened himself out and noticed that Dahlia had her eyebrow raised at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked slowly.

"You're not gonna hit me?"

"Why would I hit you? I may hate you, but I'm not going to punch you for calling me a name. That's petty and I'm not a brute."

Dahlia kept walking and left Hiccup flabbergasted. He couldn't help but noticed the difference. It was a bit refreshing. He rubbed his shoulder, relieved to not feel any pain and followed the girl with a smile.

Once they reached the bottom of a hill, Dahlia took a deep breath and ran to the top of the hill. Dahlia reached the top and stretched out her arms and felt the air dance around her. She twirled around and let herself fall with a soft thump. Hiccup, on the other hand, reached the top a few seconds after Dahlia and noticed the smile on her face. Her eyes were closed and she looked serene. The Chief couldn't help but smile too. He sat down next to her and looked at the waves crashing against tall rocks.

"Your mother is beautiful by the way," said Dahlia breaking the comfortable silence between them. "She's really nice."

"Yeah, she's the best. Too bad I just met her recently."

Dahlia turned on her belly and looked up at Hiccup with doe-like eyes. "Oh yeah. I heard Dad saying that your mother disappeared a long time ago. What happened?"

Hiccup began retelling her about how his mother was taken from his family when he was just a little boy. She even showed him the scar he got the night Cloudjumper took his mother. As she traced his scar with her fingers, Hiccup could see the fascination in her eyes. Hopefully, she was too engrossed in his scar to notice the blush forming on his cheeks. The auburn haired man continued with the story of how his mother lived with all kinds of dragons and took care of them along side the old Alpha. She laughed at all of his hilarious stories spent with his mom and listened intently when he talked about the knowledge about dragons he learned from his mom.

"I can see that you admire your mom greatly," pointed out Dahlia.

"Yeah. She's the best," grinned Hiccup as he thought about all the amazing things his mom has done for the dragons since moving back home. He turned to Dahlia and saw her absentmindedly plucking out the grass. "What about your mom? What is she like?"

Her plucking ceased. "Can't really tell you much about her."

"Why not?"

"Cause I never met her. She died before I could even remember a thing about her."

"I'm sorry I asked."

Dahlia shook her head and went back to plucking. "Don't worry about it. You just asked a question and I answered."

"Still, I'm sorry about your mother."

Dahlia looked up and felt her heart hammer against her chest. From her viewpoint, she could see the sun shining around Hiccup illuminating his hair into a reddish color. His hard jaw covered with a light stubble and the scar on his chin caused her chest to tighten. But what she focused the most on was his eyes. They were like emeralds and his soft gaze on her set her cheeks ablaze. The girl could see the light specks of brown that spread around his eyes. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and mumbled that it was okay. She hated this man for Odin's sake. He was the main reason why she's stuck here.

Their silence was interrupted with Not So Silent Sven running up the hill shouting at the top of his lungs. "Chief! Chief! Hiccup!"

Dahlia rolled over and pushed herself into a sitting position as Hiccup got up and addressed the distressed Viking. "What is it, Sven?"

"My sheep! They've gone missing!" Sven said as he began panicking and mumbling about his prized sheep.

"What do you mean missing? The racers always put the sheep back after a game."

"That's it! Somebody left the pen door wide open and let my sheep out! Now, I can't find them!"

Hiccup sighed and turned back to Dahlia. "I'll be back, okay? I just need to deal with this. It should take that long."

Dahlia nodded and shooed Hiccup off. "I understand. Chiefly Duties. I'll still be here. Maybe."

Hiccup turned back to Sven and they ran back to the village. Dahlia lay back down onto the grass and closed her eyes. Immediately, the image of Hiccup flashed in her mind. She opened her eyes and shook her head. She can't fall for him. She hated him with a passion. Sure, he was cute in an awkward way, but he's part of the reason why she's not back at the Islands. Dahlia wished she had Gem with her so that she stopped talking to herself.

"Well, look who we have here." Dahlia immediately shot up and stood a distance away from the voice with a dagger in her hand. Astrid stood cockily with her axe in her hand and scrutinized the girl in front of her. "Where's Hiccup?"

"What's it to you? Last time I heard Hiccup was his own man and doesn't have to tell anybody where he is. I'm sure the Chief of Berk can take care of himself without a dog following his tail." Dahlia placed a hand on her hip and silently challenged Astrid.

Astrid growled and glared daggers at the eighteen year old. "I'm the Captain of the Berk Guards, little girl. And because of that, I need to know where the Chief is. I'm also his girlfriend. Now tell me where he is!"

Now that was new. Dahlia wasn't going to deny the fact that she felt her heart squeeze a bit, but she wasn't one to show weakness especially when she was being challenge. "Aren't you getting a bit hypocritical when you called me a little girl? Little girls are usually the jealous types. They get angry so easily whenever they lose their toy to another girl. There's only one little girl here and it's not me." Dahlia tried to reach for her spear, but realized she must have left it at Valka's house during their lunch. She cursed at herself, but at least she still had her daggers.

Astrid stormed up to Dahlia and held her axe threateningly. "I am not jealous of some Meathead girl. Let alone a spoiled child like you. Go home to your daddy. Why don't you?"

Dahlia gripped her dagger and placed it by Astrid's face. "Make me, bitch."

Both girls were immediately at each other's throats. Dahlia ducked as Astrid swung her axe at her and threw her daggers at Astrid's feet. The blonde Viking jumped back and gripped her axe in front of her. "You know Hiccup will never like you, right? He likes the more womanly type that can satisfy his needs," Astrid taunted. "He doesn't need a girl with as little experience as you."

Dahlia could help but blush in embarrassment. She sputtered for a while but recovered still red in the face. "I think Hiccup can decide for himself. Besides, why would he want some old hag like you when he can have me?" Dahlia didn't know where that came from, but she needed to say something to get the blonde Viking riled up. She knew Astrid had more skills and experience than her on the battlefield, but a jealous, raging girl can have an easily clouded mind.

"You and Hiccup might be engaged, but me and him have been in a relationship for a long time. It's not even a surprise when he picks me over you." Astrid charged at Dahlia and their weapons met with sparks flying around them.

Dahlia had to use two daggers to hold Astrid off. Their faces were so close together that Dahlia could feel the anger seeping off of Astrid. The brunette Viking decided to finish this quickly and use the other girl's anger to her advantage.

With breakneck speed, Dahlia pushed Astrid's axe away from her, kicked Astrid on her chest, and rolled out of the way. The blonde Viking's axe embedded itself on the ground where Dahlia used to be. The brunette Viking breathed in and out as she tried to calm herself. Astrid growled and started to get up. Dahlia was about to run and keep Astrid on the ground before a plasma blast shot in between them. Both girls covered their eyes and looked up at their Chief flying in the air with his dragon. The look on his eyes meant that he saw their fight. He landed in between the girls and looked at their exhausted figures.

"Hiccup! She started it!" accused Astrid as she walked over to him.

"What? I didn't start anything," shouted Dahlia. She pointed her dagger at the other girl. "She started it!"

"Enough!" Hiccup roared and the girls immediately shut their mouths. Hiccup's voice and demeanor changed greatly. Dahlia could not longer recognize the awkward man she met before. This man was a chief and he meant business.

"But Hiccup…"

"I said enough, Astrid. Now grab your weapon and go back to the village," Hiccup commanded.

Astrid gave one last glare at Dahlia before grabbing her axe. "This isn't over, brat." With that, she stomped her way to the village.

Hiccup turned his gaze over to Dahlia who shrunk under his hard green eyes. "What? She started it," Dahlia mumbled as she put her daggers back in place.

The Chief sighed and shook his head. "I leave for a few minutes and you're already fighting. Typical."

"What can I say? I can't control all this raw Vikingness." Dahlia puffed out her chest and mimicked some of the men. This caused Hiccup to burst out laughing as he remembered how he used to do that in his teens. Then he remembered the reason he came back with Toothless.

"So I noticed you didn't really fly with us earlier, so I thought I might take you on a flight with me. On Toothless, that is," said Hiccup as he gestured over to the happy reptile.

Dahlia looked over at Toothless who had, of course, a toothless grin on his face looking as cute as ever. He walked over to Dahlia and showed off his saddle while wiggling his tail. "What happened to his tail? Did some Crazy Viking capture him and the Great Dragon Master came to the Night Fury's rescue?"

Rider and dragon looked at each other sheepishly. "Well, that's actually my fault."

"Come again?"

"I shot Toothless down. It was this very hill where I shot him down, but you know what? We're pretty even. He couldn't save all of me from the Red Death so I have my foot here."

Hiccup proudly showed off his foot while Toothless kept waging his tail back and forth in front of her face. She couldn't help but smile at their child-like demeanor, but remembered Hiccup's suggestions. "I don't think so."

"What?"

"I don't think I want to ride with you and Toothless."

Toothless looked offended. Well as offended as a dragon can look. His head dipped down while keeping his reptile eyes on Dahlia. Hiccup was confused and surprised. People loved to ride on Toothless and people have told him riding on Toothless was such a thrill.

"I know you usually ride on Gem, but I thought I might give you the island treat and show you around on Toothless."

Dahlia shook her head and tried to keep her heart from beating too hard on her chest. She needed to think up an excuse. "Nah, I think I'll spend the rest of my day lying here. I'd rather ride Gem. No offense, Toothless." The reptile growled at her but didn't take her words to heart.

"But Gem's not here. I tried to bring her too, but she refused and disappeared. Why not give it a try? Just until the sun sets?"

Dahlia still shook her head and declined the offer. "Seriously, Hiccup. I'm fine. I don't want to fly around today. If you keep pestering me, I swear to Odin I'll make our little arrangement a living hell for you."

Hiccup rolled his eyes at her, not at all phased by her threats. "One ride. And I promise to leave you alone for a while. It's not going to kill you."

"Doubtful," Dahlia said under her breath. She looked at Toothless and saw him staring at her intently just like his rider. "I said no, Hiccup. Now leave me alone." She turned to leave the boy and his dragon, but his words stopped her in her tracks.

"Well, I guess she is a scaredy-cat, Bud. You were right," Hiccup taunted. He had his hands crossed over his chest and a smirk playing on his lips. He knew how to bait Vikings. "And I thought all Vikings had no fear. I guess this little princess is scared of a little flight."

Dahlia saw red. The female rider turned around and stomped toward the male rider. She roughly poked him on the chest and looked up at the chief. Despite being shorter than him, she glared threateningly at him. "Nobody, and I mean _nobody_ , calls me a coward." Her nose crinkled as her face contorted with frustration.

Hiccup placed his face closer to the girl until their noses were almost touching. "Then prove it."

Dahlia huffed and pushed Hiccup away. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on top of a dragon. She pushed down the fear climbing up her throat and faced forward. The male rider smiled at his win and joined her on his dragon. Toothless turned his head toward his rider and gave him a disapproving look.

"What?" Hiccup shrugged at Toothless. "I got her on and it'll be fine. It's just a small flight." Normally he didn't like to trick anybody. That's what Snotlout usually did. He just couldn't help but goad Dahlia and see how riled up she gets. He turned and smiled at the girl. "You ready?"

"Let's just get this over with. I have better things to do," said Dahlia as she placed her hands on Hiccup's shoulders.

"You heard the lady, Bud. Let's fly." Toothless immediately took flight pushing off the ground and flying towards the horizon. They took a steady route and a slow pace towards some rock formation near the island. Birds flew beside Toothless as fishes jumped out of the water. He turned to Dahlia and saw her looking at the ocean. Hiccup lifted his shoulder to get the girl's attention. "See? Not so bad."

Dahlia turned to the male rider and hoped he didn't notice her breath hitch. "Yeah. Now let me go back."

"But we haven't even started yet."

"What?"

Hiccup pushed his foot back and the trio were immediately flying towards the clouds. Dahlia let out an ear splitting screech, but it was covered by Hiccup's whoop of excitement and the wind blowing around them. Toothless went higher and higher until they reached the clouds. Once they reached a good height, Toothless slowly flew around the mountain letting the wind guide their flight. Hiccup laughed as he felt the wind pushing against him. He never got tired of flying on Toothless. Every ride was as thrilling as the first one. Hiccup let go of his grip on the saddle and spread his arms wide.

"Hiccup, what are you doing?" Dahlia asked, hoping the wind drowned out the quiver in her voice.

"Feeling the wind. Do it with me."

"I don't think so." Dahlia ducked her head behind Hiccup's back and squeezed her legs tighter on the saddle. She had a bad feeling from the very start.

"Come on. It's fun." Hiccup reached to the hands on his shoulders and slowly spread them apart.

Feeling a little brave, Dahlia smiled and let Hiccup hold her hands out. Sure, her heart wanted to break out of her chest, but she was fine. They were just gliding. All she needed to do was try not to look down. Yep. That's it. Breathe and don't look down. She kept this mantra in her head until Hiccup leaned closer to Toothless. Dahlia gasped, wrapped her arms around Hiccup's torso, and buried her face into his back.

"Alright. Here we go!" Toothless suddenly nosed dived and began spinning toward the ocean. Dahlia tried to gulp down her fear and felt her stomach riding to her throat. She knew they were falling pretty fast and closed her eyes tightly. The only comfort she had were her arms tightly wrapped around Hiccup's torso.

Suddenly, Toothless spread his wings and caught them before they crashed into the ocean. Dahlia felt the water splash against her leg as the Night Fury flew so close to the waters. Once again, he pushed the wind down and rose higher into the air. They flew so high until the clouds surrounded them. Hiccup raised his body and reveled at the pure white sight. He felt arms constricting his torso and smiled at the eighteen year old behind him.

"Hey Dahlia. Look."

He felt her shake her head.

"Come on."

Another shake.

Hiccup sighed and slowly pried her arms from his torso. Dahlia's breath hitched as she tried to keep her arms around him. "Dahlia, it's okay. I got you."

Dahlia heard his voice and felt Hiccup's rough hands wrapped around her smaller ones. She mustered enough courage to take a quick peek making sure to keep her head on Hiccup's back. Everything was pure white. It was amazing. She's never seen this before. "It's beautiful."

Hiccup looked over his shoulder and saw her smiling. The chief gulped as he felt his breath hitch at the sight. With the clouds surrounding her and the rays of sun shining around, Dahlia looked like a goddess. Her hair flowed wildly behind her and the sun's rays made it look like there was a tiara shining on her head. She was more amazing than the sight around them. "Yeah. She is," he breathed out.

"Huh?" Sky blue met dark green and Hiccup immediately blushed. He turned around and gripped Toothless's saddle to avoid her gaze.

"I said it is beautiful," he cleared his throat and turned back to flying. It was time for the finale. "You ready?"

"Ready for wha-?" Her words turned to screams as they nosed dived again faster this time. Hiccup directed Toothless to do flips and spin around while he whooped with excitement. He heard Dahlia screaming, but mistook it for screams of joy instead of distress. This pushed him to show her more. He patted Toothless on his head as the reptile stopped their tricks and fly higher until he was satisfied.

Dahlia couldn't breathe but she didn't want to say anything either. She was scared out of her mind. She could feel Toothless doing tricks while she heard Hiccup shouting in joy. She couldn't take a gulp of air as she clung for dear life. This was a bad idea. She should've stayed on the ground. She should've stayed with Gem. And she should've stopped being so stubborn and letting pretty boys manipulate her. Suddenly she felt her legs slipping from the saddle. Dahlia panicked and opened her eyes. Her legs were definitely slipping. Before she could secure herself back onto the dragon, her hands slipped from Hiccup's torso and she was falling.

"HICCUP!" She screamed as she watched the dragon and rider flying away from her. Her arms reached for them in vain. The wind picked up and caused her body to flip around. Her eyes now focused on the ocean getting closer and closer. "HICCUP!"

Hiccup didn't react fast enough when he felt the mass lost from his back. He turned around and saw Dahlia falling into the ocean screaming murder. "Oh dear gods. Come on Toothless."

The auburn haired rider unhooked himself from the saddle and let his body fall. His eyes searched for the falling figure and saw her flailing around. This would've been easier if he had his flight suit, but he was in a rush. He had to do this old school. Hiccup straightened his legs and kept his arms against his body. He squinted his eyes as the wind blew around him and focused on his target.

"HICCUP! HELP!" Tears left her eyes and traveled upwards. She closed her eyes and kept screaming for help.

Hiccup gritted his teeth and tried to fall faster. Once he was in reach, he extended his hands and tried to grab onto Dahlia. She was flailing too much for him to grab anything. For the first time in forever, Hiccup felt fear while he was in the air. But he had to ignore it. "Dahlia! Stop flailing and look at me." She kept screaming. "DAHLIA! STOP MOVING AND LOOK AT ME!"

Dahlia heard Hiccup's voice despite the roar of the winds and slowly opened her eyes. He was reaching for her with a determined look in his green eyes. Without realizing it, she stopped flailing around and focused on his eyes.

"Good. Now reach for me." Hiccup gritted his teeth and kept trying to push himself closer to her.

Dahlia carefully extended her hand and clawed for Hiccup's hand. She willed herself to reach higher until she felt his rough hands again. "HICCUP!"

"Come on. Come on." Hiccup kept repeating until he clasped his hand with Dahlia's shaky grasp. "YEAH BABY!" The chief immediately pulled Dahlia to his chest and buried her head against him. His arms wrapped around her body as they kept freefalling. Hiccup's heart was racing but it couldn't compare to the quivering body pressed against his own body.

Hiccup heard a screech above him and saw Toothless diving by them. "Come on, Bud!" Hiccup shouted as he reached his arm for the saddle. Once he had a grasp of it, he pulled them onto the saddle and fluidly hooked himself to the saddle. Toothless stopped their decent and smoothly glided, relieved that his rider and the female rider were safe. He knew Hiccup would be fine, but the Changewing was right to warn him.

Hiccup secured Dahlia on the saddle. She sat in front of him with her head still buried on his chest and arms wrapped tightly around him. He felt her shake and her heart beating against his own. Even with the roar of the wind, he could still hear her crying and gasping for air. He signaled for Toothless to land as he kept whispering words of comfort to the frightened girl. As he rubbed her back, he heard a different screech and saw Dahlia's Changewing flying right by them. Hiccup noticed the worried look in her eyes as she kept glancing at her rider.

Toothless landed in a familiar cove as Gem immediately checked on her rider. Hiccup tried to move but couldn't due to the mass clinging onto his chest. This was his fault. "Hey Dahlia. It's okay. We landed."

Dahlia couldn't trust him. She still felt the air grazing her skin and the feeling of falling forever. She shook her head and refused to move.

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows and tried to think of a way to get Dahlia off of Toothless. He felt Toothless shift and saw that the dragon had extended his wing and mimicked a slide for them. "Thanks Toothless. Come on Dahlia," he whispered. Hiccup hooked his left arm under Dahlia's legs and the other supported her back. After unhooking himself, he scooted back and slid down Toothless's wing.

The chief took the girl by the water and slowly knelt down. It was kind of hard with a girl shaking and quivering on him. The dragons followed their riders and kept close watch at the two, one more vigilant than the other. Once Hiccup had his knees on the ground, he eased Dahlia onto the ground. "Dahlia, can you let go?" She shook her head. The chief sighed and noticed Gem sniffing at her rider. "There's someone here to see you."

Gem chirped at her rider and poked her with her snout. Dahlia opened her eyes and immediately let go of Hiccup. Without a moment to lose, she clung onto Gem's snout and cried in relief. Gem was here. She was okay. She wasn't in the air anymore. Her feet were on the ground, but she still felt the wind slicing her skin. Tears kept falling from her eyes though. Gem's grumbling helped ease her into reality until Dahlia lifted her head. The first thing she saw was Gem's concerned eyes and felt her antennas stroking her back.

"Hey Dahlia. Are you okay?"

Gem moved her eyes towards the male rider and they changed into slits as she threateningly growled at him. He was the reason for her best friend's distress. He was going to pay. Her antennas pulled Dahlia from her snout and behind her as they got ready to shoot an acid blast at the male.

Before she could annihilate him, the alpha jumped in front of him and growled for her to stand down. She couldn't refuse her alpha. Gem gulped down her acid but kept growling at the boys. She had a bad feeling when she saw them riding away with her rider, but she couldn't follow them.

"Gem, it's okay," Dahlia said as she stroked Gem's snout. Dahlia had to lean onto Gem's snout. Her legs felt so weak that she could barely hold herself up, but she had to look strong. Even in the presence of fear, Vikings had to be brave. That's what her father taught her. However, as she took a step away from her dragon, her legs gave away and she braced herself for the crash.

Without a care for his safety against the growling Changewing, Hiccup ran to Dahlia and caught her before she fell. She hit his chest with a thump. Dahlia chuckled at herself. "I guess I'm not as okay as I thought I was."

Hiccup frowned at the girl and carried her towards the large roots that grew downward. He slowly let himself fall back as Dahlia snuggled into his chest liking the feeling of comfort while being wrapped around his arms. "I'm pathetic," Dahlia whispered.

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am," Dahlia scoffed. "Have you met a rider that's scared of heights?"

"Everyone has fears, but it doesn't make them weak." Hiccup looked up and saw the dragons lying by the water but their eyes were on them.

"Yes it does. I'm not like the others. I watched you guys," said Dahlia. Her body stopped shaking as she listened to Hiccup's steady heartbeat. "All of you seemed so natural in the air. It was like all of you had no care in the world even if you were practicing." She sighed and looked down at her hands. "While I turn into a quivering mess when I'm flying on Gem. We can't fly as high as you guys."

"It wasn't like that before. All of us were terrified of flying," said Hiccup. "Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff, Eret, and even Astrid. We were the first dragon riders so the experience was terrifying for us."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"I'm serious. Viking's honor." Hiccup's chest rumbled as he remembered his first ride with Toothless. "I was actually scared for my life. I just put on Toothless's new tail. Of course, we trained a bit to get used to the feeling, but once we were in the air, I was scared of falling and crashing. But after a few mishaps, we got the hang out of it and introduced Dragon Riding."

Dahlia looked up at Hiccup and suddenly realized their close proximity. She gasped and pushed herself away from her but sat beside him anyway. The female rider pulled her knees closer and buried half her face into her knees. "I never got over the fear."

"What happened?"

Dahlia sighed and knew she had to explain it to him because he would not stop pestering her about it. Fear still lingered in her eyes, but she went on with the task. "It was the day I found Gem. I was thirteen back then and heard about a boy and his tribe riding dragons. During that time, my brother and some of the older kids learned how to tame dragons around the island." She chuckled at the memory of her brother and his friends introducing their dragons to the rest of the tribe. "I wanted my own dragon but my dad forbid me because he knew how hard it was for my brother to train his Monstrous Nightmare.

"While I was wandering around the forest, I found a Changewing being surrounded by a pack of Speedstingers. I didn't have time to go back and call for my brother and his friends to save the dragon. I had to save her. I knew all about Speedstingers and their paralyzing stings. So I stuck to the trees and tried to distract them. I was only thirteen so I didn't have much with me. The best thing I could do was throw rocks and sticks at them, so that's what I did. I kept myself hidden in the trees, but suddenly one of the Speedstingers found me. I didn't have time to run. Before the stinger hit me, the dragon I saved swopped down and wrapped her antenna around my torso. She lifted me onto her neck and I wrapped my arms around her antennas. At that moment, I couldn't help but whoop in joy. We were safe from the Speedstingers and flying. I was actually flying just like my brother.

"But that joy didn't last long. When I thought we were save, Gem was suddenly falling. I turned back and saw a Speedstinger standing at the edge of the cliff. That's when I realized that it hit Gem and she couldn't fly. I blacked out before we hit the waters and the next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed and was terrified of flying. Eventually, my brother and his friends helped up learn how to fly but Gem and I had a limit. In the sky, Gem can't camouflage cause there isn't anything by her. While I can only fly a few feet above trees even then I try to fly as close to the trees as possible. I'm a disgrace to dragon riders."

Through the whole thing, Hiccup listened intently. Being able to fly was the best gift Toothless has ever given to him. But it seems like there were limits for most people. When they first met, Dahlia was strong and confident. But now, he saw a vulnerable and frightened girl. He saw a reflection of himself.

Hiccup slowly wrapped his arm around Dahlia's shoulder and pulled her closer so that she rested her head on his shoulder. Dahlia didn't protest as she felt a new comfort surround her. "Before I met Toothless, I was the Hiccup of the tribe." He heard Dahlia chuckle at his joke. "Seriously. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't throw an axe. Hammers were too heavy for me. And I couldn't even use a shield. I was a mess. I knew the tribe was tired of me. Even my own dad made sure I didn't step out of the house or had somebody keep an eye on me during a dragon raid. But one night, I shot down a Night Fury. Nobody believed me. They thought I was making up stories and that made my things worse.

"Then I found Toothless. I wanted to kill him because I knew killing a Night Fury would turn my life around. But I couldn't. I couldn't kill him because I saw myself. Frightened and alone. After a while, we grew closer and became partners. When the tribe found out that I hid a Night Fury, they were furious. No pun intended. It took a big battle for them to accept that dragons can change and suddenly everybody had a dragon of their own. What I'm trying to say is that you're not the only one with fears. I'm still afraid of disgracing my tribe and I'm the Chief of Berk."

"Exactly, you're the Chief of Berk. You're also the Dragon Master. Why would you have any fears or doubts?"

"Maybe it's because I'm still that insecure and frightened boy. Every time I do something, I always think about the times I messed up. It feels like I couldn't do anything right. I still can't."

"What do you mean?" Dahlia raised her head and looked up at Hiccup. His dark green eyes were filled with sadness and disappointment.

"It's nothing."

"Tell me." Hiccup noticed that Dahlia has her nose scrunched up at him.

He sighed. "I was hoping that I could get you to like me after a ride on Toothless. But it looks like I just made you frightened even more."

Dahlia scoffed at him and lightly slapped his shoulder. "Are you stupid? Why would I like you after one ride?" She smirked at Hiccup and rested her head on his shoulder. "I still hate you."

"Not even a little bit?"

Dahlia thought about the pure white serenity she felt during their flight. "Nope."

* * *

 **I hope you like the little cute scene with Hiccup and Dahlia. Not a lot of changes here either, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Please leave a review!**


	6. Goodbyes

**Chapter 6: Goodbyes**

Dahlia stirred from her slumber when she heard grunts and shouts outside her room. Unable to go back to sleep, Dahlia rolled out of bed and stretched, sighing at the feeling of her muscles relax. She got ready for the day and grabbed her red cloak before leaving her room. As she walked down the stairs, the female rider could already hear her father directing the men with the barrels of food and bags of belongings. Dahlia stepped out of the guesthouse and noticed that she was the last Meathead to get out of bed.

"Good Morning Dad!" called Dahlia.

Mogadon turned around and smiled at his daughter. He appointed one of his tribesmen to finish the rest of the packing before giving his daughter a hug. "G'morning, my daughter."

Dahlia sighed in her father's embrace. "So, today is the day, huh?"

Mogadon smiled sadly at his daughter and titled her chin up to look at him. "Unfortunately, but you know I can't stay here any longer. I left your brother in charge and who knows what kind of trouble him and his friends have caused," he joked. "Now smile because I don't want to forget the beautiful smile you inherited from your mother." Dahlia smiled brighter than ever. "That's my girl. Now, get Gem and meet us at the docks."

Dahlia immediately ran to the stables. It didn't take a while for her to reach it since the guesthouses were conveniently located near the stables. She ended the large cavern and noticed that most of the dragons were already awake and starting their day. She had to climb a few ladders until she reached Gem's stable. However, she saw nothing. Dahlia smiled and crept into the stable. "Oh Gem. Come out. Come out. Wherever you are," she called.

The female rider heard a grumble to her back and jumped at the sound. Initially, her arms looked like they were encircling air until Gem's red scaly neck appeared. Dahlia laughed when Gem rolled on her back and grabbed her rider with her antennas.

"Morning, girl. It's time," said Dahlia as Gem placed her on the hay-covered ground. Gem chirped as Dahlia gently placed the saddle on her. Once everything was set, Dahlia got on Gem and fixed her cloak so that it covered her whole body. Gem offered Dahlia her antennas and they were off.

Dahlia felt different flying on Gem. She had no worries. Gem had her total trust and respect. And Gem felt the same. The female rider didn't feel scared or anxious whenever she rode on Gem. It was just the two of them. They understood each other's fears and uneasiness. They had a bond that no one else could understand.

As the red dragon flew out of the stables, she kept close to the cliffs and disappeared. Dahlia pulled her hood closer to her face to ensure that she disappeared along with Gem. Once they neared the docks, they could hear men shouting gruffly at each other as the waves rocked the boats. One ship was being loaded and each man carried a bag. Her father stood on the docks next to the Chief of Berk and his mother. Dahlia silently directed Gem to land softly and creep closer to the trio. A smirk was hidden under the cloak.

Before Dahlia could even jump off of Gem, Mogadon turned and said, "Enough, Dahlia. You know that doesn't work on me."

Hiccup and Valka looked at where Mogadon was staring and saw nothing. That is until Gem melted out of the background with Dahlia on her back. The female rider pulled off her cloak to reveal a slight pout and glare directed to the Meathead Chief. Dahlia slid off Gem and walked to her father before greeting the Berkians.

"Every single time, Dad!" Dahlia complained as she stood next to the giant man.

Mogadon's laughter boomed as he pulled Dahlia to his side for a hug. "I always know where my daughter is. It's something all fathers have, dear." Dahlia grinned at her father, welcoming the bear hug.

The Meathead Chief turned towards his equal and stared at him straight in the eye.

In a serious tone, Mogadon said, "Hiccup. I am leaving Berk without my most precious treasure. Please, as a father's request, take care of my daughter. Don't let any kind of harm come to her."

Hiccup nodded to the elder chief. "I promise. As the Chief of Berk, I promise that your daughter will be safe here on Berk."

Mogadon shook his head at the statement. "Don't promise as a chief. Promise as her future husband."

The auburn haired rider was confused but nonetheless agreed. "As her future husband, I will take care of your daughter. No harm will come to her when I'm around."

Satisfied with his response, Mogadon nodded. "Thank you, Hiccup. Now, your mother and I agreed on a date for the wedding. It shall be two months from today."

The young riders gaped at the information. That early? They just learned about the engagement and now they were suddenly getting married in two months.

Hiccup didn't know what to say or feel. He wasn't really sure about anything at this point. He was still getting used to being Chief and then Dahlia came.

What is he gonna do about Astrid?

"We believe that two months should be enough for both of you to get to know each other and for Dahlia to learn about life on Berk," said Valka. "I know it's early, but the alliance needs to be formed as soon as possible."

"I understand," said Hiccup. "For the good of our tribes."

Dahlia stayed silent but agreed with Hiccup. She was a chief's daughter. Everything was for the good of the tribe. But she also wanted what was good for her heart.

"I should be going now." The last bag and crate had been carried on the ship and the men were waiting for their chief. Mogadon gave his daughter one last hug. "I will see you in a month, my dear. Stay out of trouble."

"Yes, Daddy." Dahlia's lip quivered but she controlled the strain in her voice. "Next time we see each other, I promise I'll be ready and I'll make you proud!"

"I'm sure you will, my daughter." Mogadon said his farewells to the Haddocks and thanked them for their hospitality. Before leaving the port, The Meathead Chief turned to the docks and waved until Berk was a speck in the horizon.

"Gem!" Dahlia shouted and the dragon was immediately by her side.

With grace, Dahlia got on Gem and the duo flew to the cliff above the docks. She didn't want to lose sight of her dad. Gem landed a few feet away from the cliff's edge so Dahlia had to hurry. When she arrived at the edge, her father's ship was a tiny speck.

A few seconds later, the horizon swallowed the ship. Dahlia fell to her knees and stared at the ocean. Her father was gone. He left her on this island with the expectation of an alliance and marriage.

"You okay?"

Dahlia looked up to see Hiccup slide off of Toothless tripping on his prosthetic in the process. Toothless landed beside Gem as the dragons watched their riders.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she mumbled as she pulled her knees to her chest.

Hiccup looked down at her and decided to join her, but he still kept a bit of distance between them. "Two months, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Your dad will be back in two months."

"Yeah."

"You'll be a chief's wife in two months."

"Yeah."

"You're a green hairy monster, right?"

"Yeah… wait what?" Dahlia gave him a pointed look and shoved him. "Shut up."

Hiccup chuckled and leaned back on his palms. "I was just checking if you were paying attention."

Dahlia shook her head and scoffed, "Whatever. You're annoying me."

"So, are you really okay?" asked Hiccup.

The brown haired rider heavily breathed out and fell back on the grass. "Do I seem okay? My tribe basically left me here to become your wife."

"Sorry. I guess there are worse situations than being my wife," Hiccup sarcastically said. He joined Dahlia and stared up at the clouds. It was a pretty sunny day with a light breeze.

"Exactly. I'd rather be rolled under a Gronkle, spiked by a Deadly Nader, shot with an acid blast from Gem, and to top it off, a plasma blast from your Night Fury."

"Ouch."

"Yep. Goodbye freedom."

Hiccup turned his head to Dahlia to see her with a distant look in her eyes. A deep frown was etched into her skin. He didn't know why but he didn't like it. She may hate him, but that doesn't mean he would have to hate her. They were stuck with the same problem.

He pulled himself up and extended a hand towards Dahlia. "Come on."

Dahlia raised an eyebrow at the Night Fury rider. "What?"

"Don't ask. Just come on."

Dahlia grabbed his hand and let him pull her to her feet. "Where are we going?"

"I wanna show you something. Let's just go."

She tried not to think about Hiccup's warm hand surrounding hers as he pulled here away from the cliff. Dahlia looked back toward the horizon where her father disappeared.

 _Bye Dad. I promise I'll make you proud._

* * *

 **I haven't updated in so long and I'm so sorry!**

 **If you got an alert about this new chapter, I would advice you to read the previous chapters since I update them and changed the story a little bit. I hope you all liked this story!**

 **Please leave a review!**


	7. Life on Berk

**Chapter 7: Life on Berk**

"Hiccup, where are we going?" Dahlia asked as Hiccup kept pulling her. Toothless and Gem wordlessly followed them.

"Didn't I tell you not to ask any questions?" Hiccup smiled and waved at the villagers.

"Yeah, but I don't know what your intentions are. What if you're taking me to your house and tried to have your way with me?"

Hiccup stopped and stammered in embarrassment, "W-What are you talking about? I-I wouldn't do t-that!" His face was bright red as Dahlia kept laughing at him.

"Calm down, Chief. I was just joking." The brown haired girl began walking toward the village. She couldn't stay depressed about her tribe leaving. It wasn't very Meathead tribe-like. She didn't want these Berkians thinking she was weak. "Now, what were you going to show me?"

Hiccup gulped and ran up to walk beside Dahlia. His mind was definitely going to a place he knew it shouldn't. "I wanted to show you around the village. I don't think you've seen all of it, right?" he asked.

"No, but I guess I have nothing else to do," Dahlia shrugged. She stopped and turned to her dragon. "Gem, why don't you take the day off too? To look around and get used to the place?"

Gem chirped in agreement and flew off towards the forest.

"Hey bud, why don't you go join her?" Toothless growled at his rider and followed the Changewing. "So, I think you know the Great Hall. It's where most of our parties, meetings, and meals happen," explained Hiccup as he pointed to the building. Many Vikings were going in and out while some dragons were perched on the roof.

"Right over there is the Weapon Storehouse. Obviously, that's where the weapons are stored." While he was explaining this, his cousin stepped out of the building.

Snotlout's hard face brightened up when he noticed the new girl walking towards him. "Well, hello there, gorgeous. If you were a weapon, I'd pick you first since your beauty is the deadliest."

Dahlia forced a smile on her face. "Hi Snotlout."

"What are you doing with Toothpick? Wouldn't you rather spend the day with a real Viking?" Snotlout puffed out his chest and flirtatiously grinned at her.

Having enough of his cousin, Hiccup steered Dahlia away from the conversation. "Not today, Snotlout."

"Maybe some other time, beautiful! These dreamy muscles will be waiting for you!" Snotlout called after them since Hiccup was running away from his cousin's ridiculous lines. Dahlia looked over her shoulder and saw Snotlout practically kissing his biceps. It sent a chill down her spine.

Once they were a ways away from Snotlout, they slowed down and continued their stroll. "Here we have the Berk Dragon Training Academy. It's mostly used to train new dragon riders but once in a while, me and my friends use it to train," explained Hiccup.

Dahlia could hear Fishlegs instructing new riders and Meatlug roaring at the dragons. It was definitely a rowdy day. Hiccup and Dahlia walked into the Academy to see dragons flying around with their riders chasing them around. In the middle were Fishlegs and Meatlug trying to control the situation.

Hiccup sighed and joined the fray. He started with a pair of Monstrous Nightmare and their riders who were trying to climb their dragons. They weren't listening to him either.

It really was chaos.

Dahlia whistled loudly which grabbed everybody's attention. Both riders and dragons were frozen in place watching the female rider. "Alright lads, why don't we start off by standing by our dragons? Or else you won't even see yourself riding a dragon at all."

Almost immediately, the young riders stood beside their dragons. However, the only problem was that some of the dragons were still apprehensive about their riders while the riders were too eager to get one their dragons.

Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Meatlug joined her in front of the young class of dragon riders. "Wow Dahlia, that really got their attention. Thanks."

"No problem, Fishlegs. So, what are these kids learning today?"

"Well, this is their first day so we're still on Lessons #1: Trust," explained Fishlegs. He grabbed a bucket from one of the storage rooms and brought it out in front of him. He turned to his class with his hands clasp behind his back. "Now class, let's begin with the first lesson of dragon riding." A hand shot up. "Yes, Frogteeth?"

"When do we start riding on our dragons?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "Oh, my naïve student, we don't start riding our dragons until the last lesson." Many of his students groaned in annoyance. "The first lesson is trust. The best way to gain their trust is to get their attention. Now everyone grab a fish." The kids each grabbed a fish with the dragons eying the food the whole time. "Now that you have your fish, gain your dragon's trust by giving them the fish. It's better to be nice to your dragon and do whatever it takes to gain their trust. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes you have to go to extreme measures. But it'll be a start of a great bond." Meatlug cuddled up to Fishlegs while the rider gave his dragon a big hug.

Dahlia felt a hand grab her own as Hiccup pulled her away from the lesson. She followed him without question to their next destination.

"Did I ever tell you the first time I met Toothless? What I had to do to gain his trust?" Dahlia shook her head. "Well, I brought fish for Toothless because I thought he would be hungry and all. It didn't take that long to get him to eat the fish, but then he started looking for more. The next thing I know he regurgitated a piece of the fish. He expected me to eat the fish. I couldn't eat fish for a whole week after that."

Dahlia couldn't help but laugh at Hiccup's little predicament. "Did you really eat RAW fish? That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!"

"What? I had to get him to trust me," Hicup defended. "What was I supposed to do? Refuse fish from the offspring of lighting and death and become a charred Viking? No, thank you!"

"You have guts, Hiccup."

"What about you? You told us how you and Gem met, but not how you got her trust."

Dahlia froze in her step and looked down. "It's really not that interesting."

Hiccup kept going. "It's probably not as bad as mine. What? Did you have to climb the highest tree? Find her the tastiest fish? Clean her t—"

"HICCUP! Just drop it, okay? I don't want to talk about it." Dahlia felt her heart sinking at the memory. Her and Gem may be the best partners in the Meathead tribe but it didn't mean they had the best experiences with each other.

Hiccup turned around and saw Dahlia shaking on the spot. Many of the villagers were staring at them and whispering amongst each other. The chief signaled the others to go about their business as he approached Dahlia. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. Can we just forget about it?"

The chief nodded as he led Dahlia to their next destination. In his nature, he wanted to ask what happened, but he knew it would only make things worse for him. His plan to get Dahlia to at least tolerate him would go down the drain. "Here we have the Blacksmithing Forge."

As they passed by the building, a large man with a weird tooth and a stone hammer for a hand limped out with a merry tone. "Ah, Hiccup. Nice seeing you around here again." His eyes turned to Dahlia. "And this must be your lass everyone is talking about. Nice to meet ya. The name's Gobber."

"Dahlia."

"Dahlia, that's a pretty name for a pretty lass. Sorry, we didn't get to talk at the Welcoming Party. Your father kept challenging me and Spitelout to an armwrestling match." Gobber chuckled at his faint memories from the night of the party.

Dahlia giggled. "Yep, that's my dad. He's told me stories about his past battles with the Hooligan tribe especially their arm wrestling matches. I still can't believe all of you used to fight about arm wrestling matches."

Gobber's belly rumbled from his laughter as he reminisced about his battles during his youth. "Those were the days. But of course, your mother and Valka would be the ones to end the battles. Nobody could go against those two especially the mighty chiefs."

Dahlia's ears perked. "My mother?"

"Your mother and Valka were the only ones who could control Stoick and Mogadon. They were the most beautiful and scariest of the bunch." Gobber's eyes glazed over as he shivered at the many times Valka and Dahlia's mother had to stop their husbands from waging wars against each other. "Well, Dahlia, I hope you take care of Hiccup here. He's a bit on the clumsy side. And he likes to break stuff too. Not to mention a bit idiotic…"

"Alright. Alright. That's enough." Hiccup grabbed Dahlia by the shoulders and steered here away from his old mentor. "Thanks for telling her more of my undeniable features."

"Anytime Chief," Gobber saluted. "Stop by anytime, Dahlia."

Dahlia looked over her shoulder and flashed Gobber a smile. "I'll make sure of it."

"Come on. There's one last place I want to show you."

It took a while but Dahlia and Hiccup finally reached their destination. It was a long trek but neither of the riders wanted to show that they were tired from climbing up so many stairs. Maybe they should've called their dragons for help.

"We're finally here." Hiccup let out a long breath as he stretched out his back.

Dahlia looked around and Terrible Terrors surrounded the house. One tried to land on Dahlia's head but she shooed it away. "What is here exactly?"

"Hey Gothi. There's someone I want you to meet." Dahlia shot Hiccup a confused look but he just waved her off and nodded toward the house.

After a while, a little old lady with a long staff stepped out of the darkness of her house. The Terrible Terrors started squawking at her for attention. She waved them away and approached the chief.

Dahlia felt a hand in the middle of her back. She shot Hiccup a warning, but stepped toward the old lady. "Gothi, this is Dahlia. Dahlia, this is Gothi. She's the village elder."

"It's nice to meet you," said Dahlia.

Gothi nodded at the girl, but looked at her chief questioningly.

"I talked to your father a while ago and he told me something that you might enjoy doing while here on Berk. Gothi, here, is not only the village elder, but she's also the village healer. The only village healer, as a matter of fact."

Dahlia could already see where this is going, but she didn't want to get her hopes up in case Hiccup tried to pull a fast one on her. She merely nodded in understanding.

"I heard you were training to be a healer before your dad told you about the… uh news. So I thought, why not introduce you to Gothi. We need one more healer and Gothi's not getting any younger. Ow!"

The old lady knocked Hiccup on the head with his staff. She huffed at him and held her staff threateningly at her Chief. Hiccup stepped behind Dahlia to shield himself from another blow.

Gothi began to write into the sand, symbols he could not recognize. He should've brought Gobber to translate.

Dahlia giggled. "Yeah, I didn't really have a choice in the matter. If I did, he wouldn't be the first choice."

Hiccup shot Dahlia a look. "Wait, you know what she's saying?"

She raised an eyebrow at the chief. "Yeah. It's an old Viking language. I've studied it since I was a kid." Dahlia looked down at Gothi again. "Thank you. I wish you could've told him that yourself."

"What? What did she say?"

"Nothing. She said I was smart for my age and that you were way out of my league." Dahlia and Gothi shared a laugh as their chief stared at them in disbelief.

"Thanks Gothi." The chief humorlessly stared at the old healer. "Anyway, how about it Gothi? Think you have time to train a new healer?"

Gothi gazed down and thought for a while making Dahlia nervous about her decision. However, Gothi smiled at the younger girl and accepted the offer.

After Gothi and Dahlia talked about when her first lesson would be and other things that Hiccup was sure were insults towards him, the dragon riders walked back toward the village. The sun was setting by the time Hiccup and Dahlia arrived at the guesthouse, but not one of them made a move to leave.

"So, what do you think of Berk?" asked Hiccup.

"Cold and desolate."

"My thoughts exactly."

"But I think I can get used to it," Dahlia shrugged. After a bit of silence, Dalia looked up at Hiccup. "Thank you."

Hiccup smiled at Dahlia, which gave Dahlia a weird feeling in her stomach. "Don't mention it. Does this mean you don't hate me anymore?"

"Don't get your hopes up, dragon boy."

Without a second thought, Dahlia lunged at Hiccup and enveloped her arms around his torso. She ran into the guesthouse with her heart pounding against her chest.

Maybe she was getting sick.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I thought I would treat you to an early update since I'm going to be busy for the nest few days and wouldn't be able to post an update this Friday! I hope you liked it and got a bit of an insight on Dahlia's mysterious past. But it looks like Hiccup is getting her to like Berk a little bit.**

 **Reviews:**

 **MMM: You'll have to wait and see what happens. Keep in mind that you can ask all the questions you want, but I won't disclose anything yet. I'll try to update every Friday.**

 **yesboss21: Well, I hope your healing up well. HAHA!**

 **Thank you again for reading and please leave a review! See you next time! Merry Christmas!**


	8. Fifty Shades of Green

**Chapter 8: Fifty Shades of Green**

Sleep. Hiccup never really thought that sleep could be so important since he was used to nightly raids from the dragons when he was younger or his father's gargantuan snores. But since becoming the Chief, he loved and looked forward to sleep. Unfortunately, he hasn't been getting the amount of sleep he wanted. For a few days now, Hiccup would think he would be used to it. But no, Hiccup woke up to more insistent pounding on his front door. _Why can't I just get one peaceful morning?_

The chief pushed himself up from his comfortable bed and shouted, "I'm coming." Hiccup grabbed an old shirt and walked toward his front door. The knocks kept getting louder and faster as he neared the door.

He opened the door and stepped back before he got knocked on the face. "Astrid?" Surprise struck his face instead. His girlfriend was the last person he expected to see today due to recent… happenings.

"Hiccup. We need to talk." Astrid pushed her way past Hiccup into his house.

The auburn haired chief sighed and closed the door. He knew he was in for a long argument with Astrid by the way her brows were scrunched up and her eyes held no sympathy for him. Hiccup pulled out a chair from the table as his eyes trailed Astrid's figure that kept walking back and forth in front of him.

A long silence surrounded them as Hiccup waited for Astrid to say anything. However, he could tell that Astrid was battling with herself. She kept opening and closing her mouth, looking at him and turning away. Her stomping feet became a steady tempo with Hiccup's pounding heart. He can't wait any longer.

"Astrid, I'm—"

"Don't." Astrid raised a hand. She let out a shaky sigh as she looked at Hiccup in the eye. "That girl, Dahlia. And then this whole arranged marriage business."

Hiccup knew this talk was going to come sooner or later. He just wished he had more time to think about it and find a solution to everything. The auburn haired chief stood up to tower over Astrid. "Astrid, even you know I don't have much say in this arrange marriage. And Dahlia has as little say as I do."

"But you're chief. Can't you… I don't know… end it?"

"And what? Start another war? We've had peace between the tribes for several months now. I really don't want to start anything with the Meathead Tribe."

Astrid huffed out in annoyance. "We can take them. We have more dragon riders than they do. We've always won every battle against them. If the only way to end this marriage is to fight, then I'll gladly start training the guards for battle."

"That's not that point, Astrid." Hiccup ran a hand through his messy auburn locks. This was too early and too complicated for him. _Why does Astrid believe that violence can solve everything?_

"Then what is, Hiccup?" Astrid crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Hiccup challenging him.

"It… it just isn't."

"Have you even _tried_?"

 _No._ "Yeah, I did, but it's more complicated than you think."

"No it's not, Hiccup. All you have to do is refuse the whole thing. If the Meathead tribe refuses, then we can fight for it."

"I can't do that, Astrid. Fighting won't solve everything and I plan to handle this situation peacefully. I have to think about the good of the tribe."

"Then what about us, Hiccup? All you do is spend time with her, but you haven't even stopped to think about me, have you? If you didn't notice, I'm still your girlfriend. Or maybe you forgot since you've been too busy with your _betrothed_." Malice laced each of her words. Hiccup noticed how her fingers were twitching to punch or destroy something. It's a good thing Astrid learned a little more self control, but Hiccup knew when she was about to explode.

Usually, Hiccup would be trying to fix things with Astrid or asking her for forgiveness, but lately, he and Astrid hadn't been the same. "No, I haven't forgotten."

"Then what are you going to do? I'm not just going to stand by and let _her_ take you," Astrid said firmly. "What? Am I not good enough for you anymore? Is that it? You have something new and exciting to look at? News Flash! I'm your girlfriend. And I'm not going down without a fight."

"No, Astrid. It's not that all at. I just haven't figured out what to do yet. I need time to think about everything."

"Well, you better figure it out soon or else I'm about to start an all out war with your little princess."

"Is that what your fight with her was all about?" Hiccup remembered flying back to Dahlia and expecting to see her where he left her. But, no. He had to stop Dahlia and Astrid from killing each other.

"What was I supposed to do, Hiccup? She was also being annoying and refused to tell me where you were. I had every right to force her to tell me. And you can't stop be from picking another fight with her."

He knew he couldn't. "Astrid, don't be rash. She's just as miserable as I am."

The blonde Viking let out a snort as she stared at him in disgust. "That's not what it looks like. Don't think I haven't seen you and her hanging around all the time. You can't just let another girl with cute eyes waltz around here like she owns the place."

"What are you talking about?"

"Heather? You were head-over-heels for that girl and look where that got you."

Hiccup stared at her in disbelief. She was actually playing the Heather card. "That's completely invalid. Heather did it because Alvin had her parents. She had no choice. I would've done anything to save my parents. And I thought you were Heather were friends now?"

"That's not that point, Hiccup."

"Then what is it?"

"The point is that you're too trusting for your own good. You let the Meathead tribe land on our island without so much as a question. Instead, you throw a party for them and for your little _betrothed_. And you've been neglecting your duties to spend time with her."

"No, I haven't. My mom wants me to spend time with her and get her settled since I am the chief. And what's wrong with a little trust?"

"The problem with you trusting a stranger is because you don't think about the consequences. You blindly let her into your life and suddenly she's the only thing you see. You're Chief now, Hiccup so act like it."

"I am acting like a chief. I'm doing everything I can to avoid an all out war. I want peace between the tribes and that's exactly what I'm doing. So what if I'm probably going to marry a total stranger. At least that's going solidify an alliance and stop all the fighting. A chief protects his own. I intend to stand by that."

A thick silence covered the two dragon riders. They were both in a stand still and never breaking eye contact. Both fighting an internal battle with their eyes. Both waiting to see which one would back down first. Both wanting to claim victory.

"You're my boyfriend."

Hiccup breathed out of his nose and broke their eye contact. _That's a surprise_.

"What was that?"

The chief cursed under his breath. He didn't realize he said that out loud. It was now or never. "I said that's a surprise."

The blonde Viking's eyes widen in disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hiccup trailed his eyes back to Astrid. He couldn't even recognize the blue eyes he once loved. _Loved. Past tense. When did that happen?_ Hiccup felt his heart ache at the thought. This was the girl of his dreams since he was a boy. She's the one he's been pinning after for so long and now it's like it was nothing.

"Lately you haven't acted like my girlfriend at all. Since I became chief and you became the Captain of the Berk Guards, you've been avoiding me. Every chance I get to talk to you, you kept saying you were busy and you flew off. I tried to make time for you, but you always ran."

"That's because I have more responsibilities, Hiccup," Astrid defended. She couldn't believe what Hiccup was accusing her. "As the Captain of the Berk Guards, I have to ensure the safety of the tribe. I have to train more guards. I need to help build more outposts. Everyday I run perimeter checks—"

"Astrid, I offered to come help you—"

"And I told you, you don't need to do that. You have other responsibilities as a chief than running perimeter checks. You were suddenly made chief, so I thought you needed space to get used to things. I was thinking about you."

"You were thinking about me?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "That's not what it looked like to me. To me, it was like when we were kids. You would just ignore me like I was nothing. Everybody said you were just busy being the new Captain of the Berk Guards, but it didn't seem like it to me. I thought you were avoiding me the whole time."

"Don't you dare talk about whose been avoiding who. May I remind you who's been disappearing off with that little tramp?"

"Stop calling her that! And I've just been busy."

"So that's it then, huh? Our excuse is that we're both too busy with our own lives that we don't have time for each other."

Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest and slowly sighed out. "I guess it is."

"Well, I'm not going to waste your time any longer, _Chief Hiccup_." Astrid walked toward the door, but not before looking out the window.

In his heart, he knew he needed to fix this. It didn't sit right for him that he would be fighting with one of his best friends, even if she is being irrational. "Astrid, don't go."

Astrid looked down and turned back toward her chief. He could see tears brimming her eyes. Something he rarely saw even when they were dating. "Hiccup, I can't deal with this right now. Things haven't been the same between us and I don't know what to do. I've been so confused lately and everything seems more stressful that it really is. But I don't want to mess anything up between us. I still love you, Hiccup."

Before Hiccup could react, Astrid wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. It felt forceful and different than the once they used to share. He didn't know how to react. Was he supposed to push her away? A small part of him still had feelings for Astrid, but it felt wrong. Hiccup placed his hand on Astrid's waist and—

"Good Morning Hiccup! Wanna go… Oh…"

Hiccup pushed Astrid away and saw Dahlia gaping at his front door. The gods were definitely against him. "Dahlia… I…I uh," Hiccup stammered. _Say something, idiot._ Anythin _g for gods sakes'._

"No, no. I'm sorry. The door was unlocked, so I thought Hiccup is probably asleep. I'm just gonna go wake him up… Oh Gods. I'm rambling. I should just go. Sorry. I'm just…yeah." Dahlia hurried out the door and disappeared. When she left, Hiccup's heart dropped. That was the last thing he wanted Dahlia to see.

"Well that got rid of her." Hiccup completely forgot that Astrid was still in the room. He was about to run to Dahlia when he felt Astrid's hand on his arm. "Hiccup, forget about her. Focus on us. She's nothing to you. Just some tramp who needed to know where she really stands."

At those words, Hiccup pulled away from her. "ENOUGH! I don't want to talk about this anymore. Go do your _responsibilities_ and leave me alone," he spat the words out in disgust.

The last thing he saw before he left was Astrid's shocked face. He couldn't deal with her at the moment. He wanted to find Dahlia and try to fix things. The hurt in her eyes wounded Hiccup. That was the last thing he wanted to do to her. Not just because he felt sorry for her. It was something more. Something he wasn't quite sure yet. He just hoped he could get to her in time.

* * *

Run.

As far away as you can.

Keep running.

Don't stop.

Don't look back.

Run.

Those words kept repeating in her head. They were her friends. Always there for her when nobody else was. A mantra she repeated every time she needed to…disappear. To help her forget. _Where's Gem when I need her?_

An image flashed in her mind. Hiccup's arms wrapped around Astrid as they shared a kiss. She stumbled but moved forward. _Why do I care so much about that? They must have something going on. And I'm just a nuisance. I'm nothing to him._

Dahlia felt her legs weaken. Her chest felt tight as she tried to breath more evenly. She stopped and tried to get more air into her lungs. Dahlia noticed sand under her boots and realized she ran all the way to the beach. She must've looked crazy running through the village.

Then something wet ran down her face. She looked up to the sky but there were no rain clouds in sight. It was a clear day. More droplets rained down her cheeks. _I'm crying_. Dahlia felt her throat choke up as her body was racked with more sobs. She wanted to stop but the frustration and hurt she felt for the past few days overflowed.

 _Dammit. Dammit. Dammit._ Dahlia fell to her knees as more tears ran down her face. It was only Hiccup. They haven't even known each other for that long. She was the one who suddenly appeared in his life and probably ruined everything. Why was she even mean to him? He was dealing with the same things as her, but most likely more with Astrid in the picture. Gods, she was so stupid. What was she even thinking?

"Dahlia?"

The brown haired rider stopped crying at the voice and tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks. The last thing she needed was to look weak in front of somebody. Dahlia looked over her shoulder and saw Hiccup's cousin hesitantly walking up to her. "What do you want, Snotlout?"

Snotlout didn't say anything until he was standing right by her. They didn't make eye contact at all. "I… uh saw you running through the village away from Toothpick's house so I thought he probably hiccupped again. I couldn't let a gorgeous lady cry without my shoulder to cry on."

Dahlia shook her head and laughed at the Viking. "For a second there, I actually thought you weren't a disgusting pig."

Snotlout looked down at the female rider. "Thank you?" The Monstrous Nightmare rider cleared his throat awkwardly. He wasn't really used to listening to other people's problems, but he was the Chief's right hand man. These should be one of the things he learned to do. Especially since this girl might become his chief's wife. "So, want to tell me what's wrong?" Snotlout plopped himself by Dahlia and looked forward into the morning sunrise.

"Do you sometimes feel like you shouldn't be somewhere even though you have to be? Like you listen to other people tell you what to do except when you do it, you get hurt in the process because you realize you might be hurting other people?"

"Uh… yes?" Snotlout understood nothing.

"You do something for the good of many people and you convince yourself that you'll be happy in the end, but in the process, you're hurting yourself and it just seems like you'll never be happy. No, you think things are getting better but then you find out things are more complicated than you thought. Like you think you had problems, but no another person has bigger and more complicated problems than you. In the end, you feel like a total bitch."

Dahlia huffed out in relief. She finally said it, but it definitely tired her out. More than crying did.

"Uh, I'll be honest. I did not understand a single thing you said," Snotlout said.

Dahlia shot him an annoyed look, but he just gave her a sheepish grin. She had to explain it again? "Okay. It's Hiccup."

"What did my little cousin do this time?"

"I don't know. It's kinda stupid."

"Well, who else am I gonna tell? I love to hear anything Hiccup messes up on." _Even though I'll have to be the one who fixes it._

Dahlia sighed, pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her chin on her forearms. "How does Hiccup really feel about this whole thing?"

"Whole thing?"

"The arrange marriage."

"Oh!" Snotlout nodded in understanding and tried to think. He didn't really ask Hiccup what he thought. This was going to be harder than he thought. "I think he's okay with it."

The Changewing rider snorted out in disbelief. "Why would he be?"

"Well, for as long as I've known Hiccup, he always does things to gain respect and impress the tribe. He's always been the runt of the group. That's why he likes to get people's attention." Snotlout thought back to the times Hiccup would always trail behind him and his friends. His cousin would always copy what they did or watch them from afar. But then he got his dragon. "Even though he's Chief now, he's still looking for everybody's approval. He's pretty stupid actually."

"So, the only reason he's going through with the arrange marriage is because he wants approval from the tribe?" The question confused Snotlout, but he nodded nonetheless. Hopefully that helped. "What about Astrid?"

"What do you mean Astrid?"

"What's Astrid to Hiccup?" This was it. She needed to know.

"Oh, those two have been dating for a long time." Yep. It hurt. A lot. Dahlia buried her head deeper into her knees hoping that this would result in her disappearing. Where was Gem when she needed her? "But things have been shaky between them for a while now?"

Dahlia peeked a look at Snotlout. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I remember how those two used to be in the beginning, but now it's different. Not sure what it is, but there's definitely something going on between them." Dahlia felt her heart lift a bit. Hope? "Why do you ask?"

"Then if they're still together, why is Hiccup okay with the arrange marriage? I would immediately call it off if I had a boyfriend."

Snotlout pursed his lips. "I'm not really sure. To tell you the truth, I used to have a crush on Astrid. If I was with Astrid, I wouldn't give up on her so easily, but I'm not Hiccup nor am I with Astrid. But I do know this." Snotlout stared at Dahlia in the eye, focus unwavering. "Hiccup does things for the good of the tribe even though it's idiotic and he doesn't think of the consequences. That kid is too selfless to think about his own self. He may be stupid, but he's our Chief. It's in his nature to not be selfless and think about other people. You know you and Hiccup are kind of alike."

She decided to humor him. "How so?"

"Well, from the sound of it, you're in this arrange marriage for your tribe. Pretty selfless if you ask me. Something you and Hiccup have in common."

Dahlia thought about his words and smiled at him. "Thanks Snotlout."

"No problem, gorgeous. Now if Hiccup ever messes up again, I'll be here with open arms to take you away from him. I'm a way better Viking than him anyway and I got the good looking genes of the family." Snotlout puffed out his chest and showed off his growing beard. In the process, he flexed his muscles.

But Dahlia just shook her head and, without thinking, wrapped her arms around his neck. "No, really. Thanks Snotlout. I really needed somebody to talk to. And I needed somebody who doesn't just growl or chirp at me."

The two shared a laugh as Dahlia felt his arms hesitantly snake around her body as he softly said, "You're welcome." She definitely felt better with Snotlout's reassurance. But that shattered when she heard her name being called.

"Dahlia?"

Her head shot up and she automatically pushed Snotlout away from her. He shouted in surprise as his head was suddenly buried in sand. But Dahlia didn't care. She was looking at Hiccup who was mirroring her own emotions earlier. _We share something else in common. Really bad timing._

* * *

 **Dammit Hiccup! Things just got even messier. But don't you like a little cliche scene to spice things up a bit?**

 **All of you have been asking about Astrid. Well, here she is. I hope I didn't disappoint. I tried my best to answer a few questions about what will happen with Astrid, her reactions to everything, and what's happening with her and Hiccup.**

 **I put in some Snotlout/Dahlia friendship there. I wanted to make it look like everybody is maturing in their own way. As we grow older, some of our personalities and mindsets change, so of course some of our favorite characters will be a little bit different than the movies. But hopefully, you guys liked it.**

 **I needed to post this on a Wednesday again because I'll be very busy tomorrow and Friday for obvious reasons. After this week, I will be posting on Fridays again.**

 **Reviews:**

 **MMM: From a previous chapter, it was mentioned that Dahlia saved Gem from a pack of Speed Stingers, so yeah. It was bad.**

 **raiglacc: We all have that sickness! haha!**

 **Wild Cat 214: That will be answered in later chapters so hopefully you'll stick around to see!**

 **darkness surrounds me: Thank you. I always like hearing my reader's thoughts. I hope the Hiccup and Astrid scene was to your liking.**

 **Thank you for reading and please leave a review! Until next time! Happy New Year Everybody!**


	9. Because of an Arm-Wrestling Match

**Chapter 9: Because of an Arm-wrestling Match**

Things couldn't get even more complicated. Snotlout was spitting sand out of his mouth while he protested at her for pushing him, but she didn't give him a second thought. She was more focused on the Hooligan Chief who was staring in disbelief at her. He stood on top of the hill that separated the sandy beach from the grassy land. His eyes were scrutinizing her and his cousin, going from her to his cousin and back to her. Dahlia was about to run up to Hiccup, but the image on his arms wrapped around the blonde banshee flashed in her mind.

"What are you doing here, Hiccup? I thought you were busy with Astrid?" She felt sick thinking about those two together. But what can she do? She shouldn't be surprised. Astrid already told her, but she didn't believe her then. Dahlia just wished the sight of Hiccup and Astrid eating each other's faces didn't confirm her uncertainty.

"I should be asking you that. What are you doing with Snotlout?" Hiccup strode toward Dahlia who stood with her hands on her hips with her right hip cocked to the side. He stopped in front of Dahlia with his arms crossed.

Snotlout watched as his cousin and Dahlia stared at each other challengingly as if pushing one of them to break first. He has seen it many times with Vikings and dragons. He has broken many fights or arguments with Hiccup, but he knew this was one fight he would not be able to resolve. The Monstrous Nightmare rider noticed the sharpness in their eyes. Two dragons were challenging each other for dominance. This was one fight Snotlout didn't want to get in between. Without making a sound, Snotlout slowly walked away from the other riders, hoping that his Chief would at least come out with all of his remaining limbs. While Viking men were intimidating, Viking women were vicious and ruthless. Definitely didn't want to cross paths with one.

Dahlia scoffed. "Why do you care? Shouldn't you be with your _girlfriend_? Or are you done eating each other's face that you have to deal with me now?"

"W-we were not eating each other's face," Hiccup stuttered but he kept his eyes on her. He was not breaking. "We were talking."

"Oh, really? Cause I definitely saw her wrapped around your arms with you kissing her and staring at her with goo-goo eyes," Dahlia sneered as she crossed her arms mimicking Hiccup's stance. "But excuse me for interrupting you and your little girlfriend. She's probably looking for you anyway, so why don't you go back to your perfect life and forget about me since it feels like I'm just a nuisance for you?"

"Goo-goo eyes?" Hiccup said in disbelief. "I was not making goo-goo eyes. And for your information, she kissed me first."

Dahlia didn't know why, but she felt a boulder lift from her shoulders. But what does she care? She knew Astrid and Hiccup were together. "I don't care who kissed who," she hissed. "Don't let me interrupt your little love fest. She's probably out there looking for you."

And that's the last thing Hiccup needed. "Let her. She's not the one I'm concerned about right now."

"What? Had a little fight with your girlfriend? Couldn't agree on something so you decided to come running out here? Or was it because you haven't been giving her the amount of attention she wanted?"

"Something like that."

"Typical. Well, don't let me hold you up here any longer. I'm sure she's already hauling her ass around the village looking for you or chopping down trees to relieve her frustration. I know that's what I would be doing. That or going after somebody I hate and trying to kill her. I don't need her chopping my head off today. Not in the mood anyway."

"Not in the mood to see her either."

Dahlia sighed. It wasn't even lunch yet and she was already exhausted. "Then what are you doing here, Hiccup? Why aren't you with your girlfriend and trying to fix things? If I were you, I would be looking for her and patch things up. Odin knows that girl is crazy. She's had it out for me and I blame you for that. Why are you here anyway?"

"I came looking for you."

"Okay, well, you found me. Look, I said I was sorry for interrupting you and you girlfriend. Now can you leave me alone?"

"Nope."

Hiccup was seriously getting on her nerves. While she was off rambling, he was calm and collected. "Then what do you _want_ , Hiccup?" She was ready to pull her hair out of her scalp.

"What were you and Snotlout doing?"

Dahlia raised her eyebrow at the chief. She scrutinized him while he kept a straight face to show how serious he was. "We were _talking_."

"About what?"

"About how Meatlug has the hots for Toothless and how weird and fat their hatchlings would be," she deadpanned.

"Dahlia." She was testing his limits.

The Changewing rider groaned in frustration. She was close to wrapping her hands around Hiccup's throat for being so infuriating. "It's none of your business, Hiccup. I just needed somebody to talk to and Snotlout was there. He can actually hold a nice conversation if he could just suppress his arrogant urges. So, why can you leave me alone now?"

"No."

"I swear to the gods of Valhalla, I'm trying to resist the urge to knock you into next week if you don't stop being to annoying. What else do you want to know, Hiccup? We talked about the arranged marriage, you, and just how messed up the whole situation is, okay? Is that what you wanted to know? How when I think I do something right, it just blows up in my face? How every time I try to be happy or make the situation better, it just ends up a big mess? How nothing seems to be going right because the whole world is basically against you? Well, here's another thing you might want to know, I'm _tired_. I'm tired of everything going wrong. I'm tired of being trapped for so long. I'm tired of being on this godforsaken island."

Hiccup was silent as Dahlia ranted on. She was really working herself up. He could feel practically her frustration radiating from her body, which was understandable. Everything was messed up. She was right about that. Their whole life was flipped in a blink of an eye. Dahlia was still young. When he was eighteen, he didn't think about marriage or any trivial things. All he wanted to do was learn about dragons and the world. Explore places he's never been before and discover new dragons. He did that. Though he wasn't finished, he knew his responsibilities. He couldn't disappear like he used to. It looks like Dahlia never even got the chance to explore.

"Then why don't you leave?" Hiccup asked calmly.

Dahlia laughed at the idea. "Because I _can't_. Don't you get it, Hiccup? You think I can leave anytime I want with Gem? You think I can just go back to my tribe and tell them I don't want to get married? I'm not stupid. I have a duty to uphold to my tribe even if it means putting up with you."

"But you aren't happy."

"Who said I wasn't? I'm perfectly satisfied with living the rest of my days as the wife of a chief while being a prisoner of another tribe. Satisfied that every decision was made for me. Satisfied that all my father ever saw me was a tool for an alliance. I couldn't even show him I was more than that before they left me here. I'm here because I know it's the right thing to do. It's for the good of the tribe."

Dahlia sat on the grassy land as she watched a few Scauldrons rising from the ocean before diving once again. They were a family. They would never leave one of their own behind. They helped and took care of each other. She had to keep reminding herself that this was her way of taking care of her tribe.

"So you're doing this because it's for the good of the tribe?"

"Yeah, aren't you?" Dahlia looked up at Hiccup who was also watching the Scauldrons, his face hard. "Snotlout told me, you're only going along with this whole thing because you've been looking for approval from your own tribe your whole life."

Hiccup sighed and joined Dahlia on the ground. He rested his arms on his knees. The anger and frustration seemed to evaporate around them. "That's not his place to tell, but it's true. Everything I've been doing is for the good of the tribe. Sometimes I feel like it's all that matters."

"I know what you mean. Being the kid of a chief has its perks, but then there are the downsides. Like everything you do reflects the chief. And they don't let you forget about it either. All they see is the chief's daughter and that's all that matters. You can't even be yourself."

Dahlia remembered all the times she was judged for every action she took. The bad things that happened outweighed the good because that's the only thing people remember. They remember all the times you messed up and they wouldn't hesitate to bring it up. At an early age, she learned to be cautious about her actions. She was always under her father's shadow. One step out of line and the whole village would question her father. It wasn't quelled until Chief Mogadon had to assert his title as the rightful chief. Thankfully she had her brother with her. He understood what she was going through because he was in the same situation except he had it harder since he was the next Chief. But at the same time, things were different for him. She was still stuck in the shadow while he stood beside their father. She hated that.

"So, want to tell me what you and Astrid were fighting about?"

Hiccup groaned out and buried his hair in his arms. "It's complicated."

"Hiccup, this whole situation is complicated. I'm sure we can deal with more." They shared a laugh before it slowly died down.

"You really want to know what happened?" Dahlia nodded. "Astrid basically barged into my own house and interrupted my sleep, sleep that I've been deprived of for the last few weeks since I became chief. I've been on edge for a while and one more hour of sleep wouldn't hurt. Astrid comes into my home and starts demanding that I end this whole thing like it's the easiest thing in the world. I know it's more complicated that just an arranged marriage. But no, she wants to use force and fight like it's the answer to everything."

"So, why don't you?"

"I may be a hiccup but I'm not stupid. When I became chief, I knew I had to make tough decisions that can either end in peace or death. I don't know about you, but I'd rather avoid more deaths. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, Astrid wanted to use force but I refused. And you know what she does next?" Dahlia shook her head. "She starts questioning my authority as chief! I'm sorry I'm not the big, brawny, Viking-like chief everybody wanted, but I'm the chief. I think for the good of the tribe. Everything I do is for the tribe and I can't be selfish."

"Why can't you be selfish?"

Hiccup ruffled his hair as he wracked his brain for an answer. He paced back and forth in front of Dahlia as she trailed her eyes on his form. He was really working himself up. Finally, he stopped and looked behind her, toward the ocean. "Because I've been selfish enough. Ever since I was little, everything I did was for myself in order to get everyone's approval. I didn't care for anybody else. I had to look out for myself and showcase myself. That didn't go well as I hoped. My selfishness has led to many, and I mean _many_ , instances where I wasn't even worthy to be a Viking. Every single battle, I had to stay coped up inside so that I don't jeopardize anything. So that nobody would get hurt because of me."

Hiccup thought about Toothless and his dad. He only thought about his selfish recognition to the tribe and that cost Toothless his tail wing. Then he didn't listen to his own father and believed that he was making the right decisions.

"I vowed to myself that everything I do would be for the tribe. I have to stop thinking about myself."

Silence enveloped them. They were prisoners of their own tribes. And it was something they couldn't do anything about. They had no choice. No way out. No other option. They were trapped.

Dahlia began hysterically laughing to herself. Hiccup looked at her quizzically, assessing if she suddenly snapped and turned insane. "What's so funny?"

"Just everything. We're both stuck with each other because our own fathers decided to have an arm-wrestling match. Our marriage was decided on a stupid arm wrestling match," she said between breaths. "I'm stuck on this island because of an arm-wrestling match."

Hiccup couldn't help but join in her laughter. "My life is totally messed up because of an arm-wrestling match."

" _Our_ life is totally messed up because of an arm-wrestling match."

"My girlfriend is mad at me because of an arm-wrestling match."

"I had to leave my family because of an arm-wrestling match."

It became a competition between them. Blurt out something to see who got screwed over the worst. It turned ridiculous a few times.

"I'm sleep deprived because of an arm-wrestling match."

"I have to listen to Snotlout's arrogance everyday because of an arm-wrestling match."

"Oh yeah, that's the only thing bad about Berk."

Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm used to it. All my brother's friends are arrogant little pricks, but it's like all their arrogance was combined to form Snotlout."

It went on for a while until they couldn't think of anything else. They were comfortable with each other's presence. It was nice. Calming. Even if their whole life was suddenly screwed up, it didn't mean they couldn't enjoy anything else. All they needed to do was be alone. Forget everything. Just be themselves.

Hiccup looked to his left and saw Dahlia gazing towards the horizon. A small smile graced her face. He definitely preferred that than her glares. Well, anything really. It was small, but it was enough to know she was going to be okay. They were going to be okay. They were both selfless enough to go through this together. It may not be what they wanted to do, but they were thinking about their tribes. It was something that they needed to do.

"You know Hiccup, one of my good friends told me this before I left."

Hiccup perked up at the sound of her soft voice. He subconsciously leaned closer as Dahlia turned her head to look him in the eye.

"Sometimes it's okay to be selfish. Sometimes it's okay to do what you want. Just make sure it's not something you regret."

* * *

 **Hey guys! I'm sorry about the super late update. I've been having a hard time thinking of ideas lately, but it's getting there. I was kind of hoping for more reviews because I love hearing all of your thoughts even if it's just "I like this chapter" or "cute". Good reviews make my day, guys and I kind of need that. But anyway... here's Chapter 9. You guys get even more insight on Dahlia and Hiccup's thoughts, but I didn't want to reveal too much yet.**

 **Reviews:**

 **MMM: I love all of your questions, but unfortunately, I can't answer them. That would give everything away, but thank you for reviewing! I always look forward to reading your questions.**

 **yesboss21: You just gotta understand it from, Astrid's point of view. A random girl just arrived and basically takes your boyfriend away from you. I think anybody would be bitter or pissed. Paranoia is definitely an ingredient. Well, just need to see what Astrid eventually does.**

 **Thank you for reading and please leave a review! I'll see you guys next week!**


	10. The Dragon Riders are Back

**Chapter 10: The Dragon Riders are Back**

For some reason, Dahlia's words have been bothering Hiccup nonstop. A bit ominous for his taste. He still couldn't figure out what Dahlia is thinking about. Sometimes she acted civil, sometimes she acted like she hated everything about him. Sure, they had that little talk, but it wasn't enough to understand her. But he did understand one thing. She was only in this for the sake of her tribe. Both of them were.

But it didn't feel right.

Yes, he's kind of ticked off that his dad basically married him off before he even existed. But he trusted his dad's decisions. He just wanted to know why. Why now? Why did Chief Mogadon suddenly come to Berk and leave his daughter expecting her to be married to him? Why was Dahlia so accepting of it, but not with him? He needed to know and the only person who could answer them would be the one he was looking for right now.

She was true to her namesake. Dahlia the Disappearing. Nobody in the village has seen her or Gem.

He checked the house she was staying in, but he couldn't find any clue of where she might be. Her belongings were still in there. She wouldn't leave her stuff if she planned on leaving Berk for good. She has to be somewhere on the island.

He visited Gothi, but from what he could tell, she hasn't been come for her lessons. Gobber had no idea where she was. Gem wasn't in her stable with the other dragons. Nobody on the island has seen a trace of her for a while now. This wasn't good. Hiccup left immediately. He needed help.

The chief landed in front of Snotlout's house. Toothless patiently waited behind his rider as he pounded on the Jorgenson's door. From the outside, they could hear growling and shouts of anger. It sounded like something hard hit Snotlout from his cry of pain. And finally, the door was open to reveal Snotlout rubbing his head.

"Hiccup! What do you want? I'm kinda busy right now," growled Snotlout as he glared over his shoulder towards his father.

"Dahlia's gone. I can't find her." That got Snotlout's attention.

Snotlout trailed his eyes to his chief and stared at him skeptically. "What did you do?"

"Me?! Why do you suddenly think it's my fault?"

"May I remind you of your little fight the other day and how she ran into my arms?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes at his cousin. He had to keep himself from punching his smirking face. "First off, we weren't fighting. Second, she did _not_ run into your arms."

"How would you know? Were you there?" Hiccup opened his mouth to retort, but found no words. He simply glared at his annoying cousin. "Thought so," Snotlout said smugly.

The chief groaned in annoyance. "Can we get back to the point here? Dahlia disappeared."

"Okay. Where did you see her last?" asked Snotlout as he leaned on the wall. Hiccup heard scratching coming from the roof and saw Hookfang jump from the house and land beside Toothless.

"That's the thing. I haven't seen her that much lately. I've been getting back to my duties and I just thought she would be hanging around here and getting used to living in Berk. Or with Gothi learning how to heal and stuff."

"Oh yeah, we do need more healers than that old bag. I wouldn't mind Dahlia healing me up." A stupid look took resident on Snotlout's face and it took every ounce of self-control Hiccup had not to tell Toothless to plasma blast the Monstrous Nightmare rider.

"Snotlout! Focus!"

"Oh yeah. Well, I haven't seen her either. I thought she would be hanging around you being her betrothed and all."

"Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"No clue." He look up to Hookfang. "Have you seen her, boy?" Hookfang growled and rolled his eyes at his master. "Hey! Don't you sass me!"

Hiccup groaned in annoyance. He needed to find her. His mom is going to kill him for losing Dahlia. "Can you gather the team? We need to find her soon."

"Even Astrid?"

Unfortunately, the whole village knew about his and Astrid's fight and it seemed to be the talk of the village. Hiccup and Astrid haven't been on good speaking terms. And the tension was worse. He wasn't entirely sure where him and Astrid stand. He still had feelings for her, but it's all jumbled up. They haven't been the same lately and with Dahlia's arrival, everything became disorganized. One side of him wanted to work things out with Astrid because he understood where she was getting at after their argument, but the other side wanted to figure out Dahlia and this whole arranged marriage. Right now, he needed help finding Dahlia.

"Yes, even Astrid. Get Eret too," Hiccup ordered. "I'll get Fishlegs and the Twins. Meet at my house when you have them."

"Roger, Chief," Snotlout nodded as he got on Hookfang. The Monstrous Nightmare screeched before taking off into the sky towards Eret's house.

Hiccup ran to Toothless and situated himself. "Come on, Bud. We gotta find Dahlia." Toothless roared and flew towards Fishlegs house.

It didn't take that long to gather the other riders. Hiccup easily found Fishlegs teaching his young class of riders and gladly left with his chief. The twins were once again causing mischief and thankfully Hiccup stopped them before they started switching everyone's weapons. That would've started another fight Hiccup definitely didn't feel like dealing with.

"So, why did you interrupt our daily dose of pranks? Loki won't be pleased with us," complained Tuffnut as he flew beside Hiccup.

"I'll explain when we have everybody together," said Hiccup as they neared his house.

"Wait, when you mean everybody you mean _everybody_?" asked Ruffnut as she pushed her twin away from Hiccup.

"Yes, I mean everybody."

"Whoa, it must be serious if you're getting the gang back together. What did you do this time, Hiccup?" taunted Tuffnut. "The Almighty Chief asking for _our_ help. Oh, this must be good."

The twins shared a laugh as Hiccup rolled his eyes. He might feel annoyed by the twins' constant presence, but it felt good to fly with them again. His group landed in front of his house that looked over the whole village. Since he became chief, the villagers helped him build his own house on top of a hill. It was convenient enough for him to examine the village and spot any trouble. And it was private enough that he was away from everybody constantly asking for his help. Now he knew why his dad always loved having his alone time.

They didn't have to wait a while for Snotlout to arrive with Astrid and Eret. Snotlout landed beside Hiccup as everybody gathered around them. Astrid still refused to look at Hiccup but he was happy that she came anyway. It must have taken a lot for Snotlout to even convince her to meet with everybody else. Eret merely stood beside the silent captain, but he looked at everywhere else but Hiccup. At least they were all here.

"Okay, so you guys are probably wondering why I called everyone here today," announced Hiccup.

"It has to be something good. What is it? Dangerous dragon on the loose?" Tuffnut grinned in anticipation.

"Crazy dragon rider on the loose?" Ruffnut chimed in.

"Dagur on the loose?"

"Dragon hunters on the loose? No offence, Eret."

Eret shrugged off the comment.

"No, no, no, and no. It's worse. Dahlia's gone."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The twins' mischievous grins slipped off their faces as their wishes for excitement was drenched by Hiccup's news. They went back to muttering about not having any more fun on Berk.

But the twins were the least of his problems at the moment. "So, you called us all here because you lost that _brat_? Unlike you, we have more important business to attend to, _Chief_ ," Astrid fumed. Her icy glare pierced him through his eyes. "Why can't you do it yourself since she _is_ your problem?"

Hiccup glared at the twins over his shoulder at their chorus of ohhhs. They merely snickered and kept fueling the fire. "Because I need your help." He was asking for everyone's help, but he knew he needed Astrid's help too. Despite their fights and arguments, they were a team.

Astrid knew she could never say no to Hiccup. No matter what kind of fight they had, she always helped him in the end. Her pride refused to forgive Hiccup, but her chief was asking for her help. Her loyalty was to Chief Hiccup. "Fine."

"Oh my Thor," Fishlegs gushed. He couldn't wipe the wide grin on his face. "The old team's back together. What's the plan, Hiccup?"

Hiccup nodded and grabbed a map of Berk from his pack. He walked towards a table in the forgery attached to his new house. The rides followed him inside as their dragons waited outside. He spread it out on the table as the other riders surrounded the map.

"I don't think Dahlia would fly too far from Berk. So she has to be somewhere on the island." Hiccup scanned the map, thinking about places Dahlia would be. She might be out exploring the island, but he didn't want to take the chance because she might have left the island. But she wouldn't leave the island willingly, right? She was adamant about following her father's wishes. Maybe she did. Her words from last night rang through his head. She wouldn't have

"So, what should we do first Hiccup?" asked Astrid as she sensed her chief's distress. It was times like these she was thankful for understanding Hiccup so well. He was getting himself worked up over that brat. She didn't care about her, but it would not do well for the tribe if their chief was out chasing that girl instead of protecting the island.

"Eret, we're gonna need your tracking skills. You'll be searching for clues of where she might be. Check the village, check her house, check _everywhere_ ," said Hiccup, sounding like the chief he rightly is.

"Got it, Hiccup. I'll find your little maiden," Eret nodded in understanding. "If I can find a horde of dragons, I'll be able to find one rider."

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut. You guys will take the North of the island. Search through all of the caves."

"Roger that," the twins chorused.

"Fishlegs, you'll take the East. There are caves under the cliffs so she might be there."

"Yes, sir." Fishlegs tried to suppress his excitement in the seriousness of the situation. It really has been a while since they worked together as a team again.

"Snotlout, you have the West. Search around the islands there."

"Don't worry. Me and Hookfang will find your damsel in distress," he said smugly. "I'll be the one she wants to see anyway."

Hiccup resisted the urge to punch his cousin before looking at the Nader rider. "And Astrid, you'll—"

"Yeah, I know. I'll take the South and search around the forest," she said sharply.

Hiccup looked at each one of his riders. He knew he could count on them for anything. He just hoped they could find Dahlia before somebody else does. "I'll be doing a perimeter check around the island. If we don't find her by sunset, meet back here."

The other riders nodded in understanding and ran to their dragons. "HEL YEAH! THE DRAGON RIDERS ARE BACK, BABY!" the twins hollered as their Zippleback took flight towards the north.

Before the twins took flight, they pushed Snotlout off his dragon and laughed away. Snotlout muttered a few curses at the twins before swearing to find Dahlia before they could. Hookfang roared into the air before him and his rider flew to the West.

"Ohh, this is so exciting," Fishlegs squealed as Meatlug growled in agreement. They were off to the East.

A hand on his shoulder started Hiccup, but he relaxed when he saw Eret's face. "I'm sure your lady will be okay, Hiccup." Eret hoisted himself on top of Skullcrusher and flew towards the village. He really hoped he could track her down.

Hiccup saw Astrid walk by his peripheral vision. He had to at least make sure him and Astrid were alright enough to be civil toward each other. He was at fault as much as she was. Before he knew, it he was calling out to her. "Astrid, about the fight."

Astrid gave him a sideways glance, but turned away from him. "Don't, Hiccup. I don't want to talk about that right now."

"I know you don't, but you know we can't leave things as they are now. We have to figure things out."

He heard her sigh as her shoulders slumped. "I know. Just not now, Hiccup. Like you said things are complicated. I need to think a little bit longer. We gotta deal with one problem at a time. " With that, Stromfly was off to the sky.

Astrid was right. They needed to find Dahlia first. Who knows what kind of danger she might be in? Even if things have been peaceful for a while, it doesn't mean that danger won't be lurking.

Hiccup jogged over to Toothless and pulled himself on his Night Fury. "Alright, Bud. Let's go find Dahlia and Gem." Toothless let out a screech before flying to their usual perimeter routes.

Hiccup hoped he would find Dahlia before danger does.

* * *

"So, how are we supposed to find a girl who's called "the Disappearing" and her dragon, who may I point out, is a Changewing?" asked Ruffnut as they flew around around the mountains. They've been looking for the girl and her dragon for about five minutes now and were getting really bored. There was nothing but rocky mountains.

"You may, my sister," Tuffnut said in a regal voice as he turned toward his sister. "But you need to understand we are looking for an elusive dragon."

"Okay, what's your point?"

"If we want to find a Changewing, we must become a Changewing." Tuffnut smirked at his devilishly genius plan as his twin mirrored his own smirk.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.

"THORSTON IMITATION TACTIC!" the twins shouted as they jumped off their Zippleback and landed on the ground. Barf and Belch circled back and landed beside their riders as they walked around the mountain.

"Now, if I was a Changewing, where would I go?" asked Tuffnut as he looked around the area. There wasn't much around except for rocks and his annoying sister. "Hmm."

"Hey bro, what if we try blending into the mountains? If we act like a Changewing, we'll think like a Changewing," suggested Ruffnut as she pulled some branches out of a tree. She rested her feet on the tree's trunk and tried pulling some big branches. After a few tries, Ruff gave up and pulled some of the smaller branches. She put some on her belt and grabbed two branches to wave around.

"Brilliant idea, sis! You'll be a tree and I'll be a rock. No dragon will know the difference." Tuffnut bent down and grabbed a rock he believed would be enough to help him blend in. He huffed when he wasn't able to pick it up at first. He stretched out his back and arms and tried again. With a cry, he lifted the rock to his chest and carried it around. "Excellent!"

"Good thinking, brother. Now let's go find a Changewing and her rider," said Ruffnut as she waved her branches around. She secretly snickered at the sight of her brother struggling to carry the massive rock.

They stuck close to the walls and tried to blend into their surroundings. Stopping every once in a while to check the area. They moved on when nothing was spotted. They were definitely going to find the rider and her dragon before anybody else.

Barf and Belch looked at each other in apprehension before following their riders. They may not be the smartest of the bunch, but they were definitely fun to be around especially when trouble found them.

* * *

"Doesn't this feel nice, girl? The team's back together. Out on adventures. Looking for Hiccup's betrothed. I missed this." Fishlegs breathed in a big gulp of air as Meatlug growled in agreement. "And no screaming kids."

Meatlug flew towards the cliffs where the caves Hiccup mentioned were located.

"If I were Dahlia, where would I be?" asked Fishlegs apprehensively as he looked at each of the caves. "I don't really know her that well, though."

Now that Fishlegs thought about it, he hasn't seen much of the Changewing rider either. The only time he would see her was if she was with Hiccup or during meals. He had so many questions about her Changewing. Like how their scales could blend into the scenery? If Changewing acid could melt Gronckle iron? And how she blended into the background with her dragon? It must be the cloak she always wears. He has to find her and learn more information to write in the Book of Dragons.

"Where do you think she'll be, Meatlug?" The dragon looked around the cliff side and saw a cave big enough for a dragon to crawl into. She pointed her nose toward the cave and grabbed her rider's attention. "Good idea, girl. Let's try that one first."

Meatlug flapped her tiny wings toward the cave entrance. The cave was still dark despite the sun shining in the sky. The duo landed at the entrance of the cave and couldn't see a thing. "Meatlug, why don't you use Lava Blast? Hopefully we'll find something."

The Gronckle shot lava into the cave. They still couldn't see anything, but heard wings flapping. "We might have found them, girl. Good job!"

Fishlegs grinned at their accomplishment until the flapping wings seemed to multiply. It became louder and louder until Fishlegs saw hundreds of Night Terrors flew towards them getting closer and closer. Fishlegs screamed before pulling Meatlug away from the entrance. "Let's go, Meatlug!"

They narrowly missed being collided by the Night Terrors as the large pack flew into another cave. Fishlegs felt his heat hammering against his chest as he tried to calm down. He hasn't felt that much adrenaline in a long time. Has it really been that long since he's had this much excitement on Berk?

"Well, I guess we can rule out two caves. Let's move on, girl."

The Gronckle rider was about to enter another cave when he heard his name being called out. He turned around and saw the most horrifying sight he could possibly imagine. His heart was definitely trying to escape his chest now.

"What are you guys doing?" he shouted as he flew towards his young class. Many were struggling to even hold onto their dragons. "None of you are ready to even fly on your dragons!"

His students only laughed at their frightened teacher as he flew to each one of them, but the dragons only flew away from the slow Gronckle. At this point, Fishlegs wasn't sure if they were screaming in laughter or fear. It didn't make a difference to him. Their parents are going to kill him if they find out they were already flying on dragons. Without saddles too!

He was getting too old for this.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm going to have to fix Hiccup's problems. _Again_ ," Snotlout grumbled as he and Hookfang flew around the small rock formations. "I mean, first I had to talk to Dahlia since she was angry at Hiccup. Not really sure how I helped since I insulted Hiccup most of the time. And you know what I get? Sand in my face and those two just ignore me! Me! The Great Snotlout!"

Hookfang screeched at his rider as he flew around the avoid the rocks.

"I'm serious, Hookfang. Hiccup better be grateful when we come back with Dahlia. But I wouldn't be surprised if Dahlia comes running into my arms instead of Toothpick's."

Snotlout sighed as he rested his chin on his hand. He glanced left to right at the rocks. No sign of the Meathead rider anywhere.

"I'll be honest Hookfang, everything has been so boring on Berk. Sure, I get into fights with the other guys or argue with my dad, but nothing _exciting_ has happened, you know?"

Hookfang growled in agreement.

"Exactly! It's been so peaceful lately that it's sickening. Nothing to get the heart racing or my blood boiling. Stuck helping Hiccup with being Chief or sorting out the weaponry. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to hold a weapon but never actually _use_ it?"

The Monstrous Nightmare gave his rider a look. If dragons had eyebrows, he would be raising one right now.

"Right. You're already a weapon of mass destruction. Hey! Don't give me that look. Anymore sass from you mister and you won't get dinner tonight."

Hookfang grumbled in annoyance.

"I don't care if Mom will give it to you anyway. I'll tell her not to."

From the sound he made, Hookfang scoffed at the weak threat.

"You're right. That would be worse than going against a fleet of Dragon Hunters."

The dragon grinned in victory. He could already see the mountain of fish waiting for him back at home.

"Wipe that grin off your face, you lousy dragon. Back to what I was saying. Doesn't it feel nice to be in the sky just like old times? Fighting dragons and saving damsels in distress. Well, it was only a few months back when we had to fight that Bewilderbeast."

Another screech.

"Okay! When Hiccup and Toothless fought the Bewilderbeast. But we were there for support and I'll take credit for that. Anyway, I have to agree with Fishlegs for once. It does feel nice to have the old team back together."

Snotlout swore he could hear his dragon snicker.

"I swear to Odin, if you tell anybody what I said, you'll be a roasted dragon. I don't care if you're skin is fireproof. I'll find a way. Let's just go find Dahlia and fix Hiccup's mess."

He'll definitely take the glory and praise for finding Dahlia first.

* * *

The Captain of the Berk Guards and her dragon silently flew over the forest. She's been flying for a while and has not seen hide nor hair of the Changewing or her rider. It would be impossible to find her above the trees.

"Why am I even looking for this brat?" Astrid growled remembering their fight from the other day. This girl was the reason for messing up her relationship with Hiccup.

She doesn't deny the fact that she hasn't spent time with Hiccup in a while but they were both busy. Why can't Hiccup just understand that she was doing him a favor? She knew how much responsibilities Hiccup has taken since he became chief and she has even more responsibilities as the Captain of the Berk Guards. They were both busy people. They never really had time for each other.

Astrid's heartached when she remembered days after Hiccup was appointed Berkian Chief. Every time she tried to make time for him or ask him to spend time with her, he was making an excuse about his duties. He has to check on the food supply, check on the weaponry, or check on the dragons around the island. Being both the Dragon Master and Chief gave him little time for her.

Then she became Captain of the Berk Guards. Yes, she got to spend time with Hiccup to talk about the island's defenses or dragon teams, but it was all work. She got busy. It wasn't after a while that she realized she was avoiding Hiccup entirely, but she never stopped. Astrid felt that she was distracting Hiccup from his duties and she knew she needed to concentrate on her own. She had to be taken seriously.

And when Astrid was planning on reaching out to Hiccup again, _she_ arrived. The girl who proclaimed to be Hiccup's betrothed. The girl who was suddenly occupying Hiccup's time. The girl who took Hiccup away from her.

She understood Hiccup's position. She knew what he would do and she did not like it. Astrid wanted to fight. Fight for Hiccup, but he stopped her. She tried to talk to him, but he only thought about _her_ and their tribe. Everything was crumbling.

Then Astrid had to make the worse decision ever.

Astrid felt so stupid. Why did she have to do that? Why had she been so weak?

The Nader sensed her rider's distress and crooned for her attention. The blonde rider looked down at her dragon and stroked her head. "I'm okay, girl. I can't keep thinking about it. Let's just go find her."

Astrid pushed down her pride and focused on finding the brat. Hopefully she can do something right for Hiccup.

* * *

Eret, son of Eret, realized he didn't know where to look first for the chief's disappearing betrothed. He's met her briefly on a couple of occasions. She's very secretive to almost everybody on Berk. Except for Hiccup that is. Whenever he saw here, Hiccup would be by her side.

Skullcrusher landed just outside the village. Maybe he can find out where Dahlia has been and start from there.

Eret knew just who to ask. He made his way to the forgery where he could see a long line of dragons and another line of Vikings. He squeezed his way through the crowd and found Gobber inside his shop fixing a Nader's tooth.

"Gobber," Eret called.

The two limb Viking looked up and saw Eret standing inside his shop. "If you need something, you gotta wait in line like the rest of 'em."

"Actually, this is a bit urgent than a new weapon," said Eret. "Dahlia is gone and Hiccup wants me to track her down."

"What'd ya mean Dahlia's gone? The lass was here yesterday." Gobber switched the hammer with a wired toothbrush and started cleaning the dragon's mouth. "You lot can't even keep track of one girl."

"Hey! I'm not the one betrothed to her," Eret retorted.

Gobber stopped scrubbing and scoffed at Eret. "You're right. That's Hiccup's problem. That is why I never married. There you go, girl. Good as new." He directed the dragon out the door as he greeted a human customer who was asking for his swords to be sharpened.

"Gobber, focus. Can help me find, Dahlia?" asked Eret as he followed Gobber around the shop.

"Well, I'm kinda busy right now," said Gobber as he nodded towards the increasing crowd at the window.

The younger Viking sighed, but he was persistent. He knew he could find out where Dahlia is. "Can you at least tell me where you last saw her?"

The Blacksmith grabbed another sword and began sharpening that one. "Last I saw her was at dinner last night. While everybody else was eatin' and what not, I saw her sneak off with that Changewing o' hers. I reckon they're as slippery as an eel, those two. I think I was the only one who noticed she even left."

That's something. So she was here last night. But nobody has seen her all morning. "Do you know where I might be able to find her?"

"Well, if she's not at Gothi's or with Hiccup, she's probably at her house. That girl's alone most of the time," recollected Gobber as he passed the swords to the waiting customer. He pulled the next dragon into his shop and inspected his teeth. "She doesn't really talk much, does she? Well, unless Hiccup's there that it."

Before Gobber could even finish, Eret was out the door and mounting Skullcrusher. "Let's go, Skullcrusher. We have to go check the guest houses." The Rumblehorn roared before taking flight.

Why didn't he think of checking her house first? He's sure to find something that will help him track her down or at least know where she would be.

The dragon landed in front of the guest's house. These houses were built due to Hiccup's many visitors when word got out that he became chief. They were also used at temporary homes for Vikings whose houses were destroyed from attacks.

"Wait here, Skullcrusher. I'll go look around inside for a bit," said Eret as Skullcrusher laid down in front of the house.

Eret pushed the door open and slowly crept. He listened for any movements upstairs. It shouldn't be that hard to track a dragon rider. After all, he is the greatest dragon wrangler. Well, ex-dragon wrangler but he could still track dragons. If he can find dragons, he can surely find his chief's future wife.

The house looked relatively clean. Nothing was knocked over. That ruled out being kidnapped. Everything looked in order.

"Dahlia?" he called.

Silence replied him.

Eret moved towards her bedroom and couldn't find some personal belongings. No clothes either. Eret checked under her bed. Nothing. Not even weapons or blankets. This was bad.

The ex-dragon wrangler ran downstairs and checked for any supplies she might have left behind. He couldn't find a single thing. Not even a simple knife. This was definitely bad.

Eret immediately ran outside and pulled himself onto Skullcrusher. "This is bad. This is very, very bad. We need to find Hiccup quick!"

Hiccup is not going to like this. Not at all.

* * *

 **A little dragon rider action from the old team. I need to write more about them, but then again I love writing about Hiccup and Dahlia. But everything's not about Hiccup and Dahlia. But then it kinda is cause it's their story. Uuuuuugh. I need like dragon riders friendship in here somewhere.**

 **Speaking of dragon riders, have you guys watched the new season of Dragon's Edge on Netflix? I love it! I just finished today and I'm already asking for more. I'm a little bit greedy. If anybody wants to talk about it, just PM me. I don't mind talking to strangers about shows I like. Except if you're a stalker. Then I'll probably ignore you. Like my problems.**

 **Anywaaaaay, what did you guys think? Eye opener? Discovered something new? Got any questions? Thoughts?**

 **Reviews:**

 **yesboss21: Wow, you have really indepth thinking. I like it, but when I meant from seeing it in Astrid's POV was that she was a girl who basically had the perfect boyfriend who was the chief and suddenly it's being taken away from her in a blink of an eye. Anybody in their right mind would be very angry and would do anything to take him back. It's very complicated, but that's just how things are.**

 **MMM: Unfortunately, it's not what you think. But something else is happening. Find out next week!**

 **corallynblack: You're right. Astrid has no right to force Hiccup to do anything, but then again she is kind of a control freak and I think she would do anything to convince Hiccup to stop the wedding and get him back. Unfortunately, it backfires and then we get our lovely Dahlia and Hiccup moment. I'm glad you liked it!**

 **As always, I'm thankful for taking your time reading this chapter. But I gotta ask you guys something. Reviews have been lacking a bit and I crave what everyone thinks about my chapters so far. So please leave more reviews! Reviews = Motivation. Motivation = weekly updates. Weekly updates = happy readers. I think you get the point.**


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